From This Day Forward
by ErtheChilde
Summary: After their disastrous adventure with the Gelth, the Doctor and Rose reflect on whether travelling together is a good idea. After a snap decision and an unexpected row result in Rose leaving him and the TARDIS, the Doctor discovers he's made a monumental and dangerous mistake. One which he needs to correct before it's too late. [TSL Timestamp 01]
1. Chapter One

**Summary: After their disastrous adventure with the Gelth, the Doctor and Rose reflect on whether travelling together is a good idea. After a snap decision and an unexpected row result in Rose leaving him and the TARDIS, the Doctor discovers he's made a monumental and dangerous mistake. One which he needs to correct before it's too late.**

**Beta Reader(s): Jamie Scarlett and Irid alMenie. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to look this over and catch the mistakes I couldn't!**

**Disclaimer: This story utilizes characters, situations and premises that are copyright the BBC. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelizations, comics or short stories is intended by the author in any way, shape or form. This fan oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All fiction, plot and Original Characters with the exception of those introduced in the books and graphic novels, are the sole creation of ErtheChilde and using them without permission is considered rude, in bad-taste and will reflect seriously on your credibility as a writer. A short drop and a sudden stop may be in order if you are found plagiarizing.**

**Warning: _Spoilers_: If it existed in any form of Doctor Who canon, whether television, novelization, or graphic novel, it's probably going to be mentioned here. For this particular fic, anything up to and including _The Unquiet Dead. / __Canadian Writing British_: As a Canadian, I am not all-knowing when it comes to British idioms, sayings or slang. I write what sounds right to my ears and when in doubt, I look things up on the Internet. So I might not always get it right. If I'm way off about something please drop me a line and I'll correct it.**

**DW Canon-Compliance: Takes place between _The Unquiet Dead_ and _Doctor vs Doctor_.**

**TSL Canon: Set before _Kindred Spirit_s.**

* * *

'_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?'_

* * *

Charles Dickens' bemused expression had not even faded from the monitor before Rose's adrenaline wore off.

Where seconds ago she had exuded energy and invincibility, buoyed up by the success of yet another thrilling escape, now she was experiencing an onset of the shakes.

_Probably my brain catching up with the fact I almost died, _she decided. _Again._

The Doctor was already a whirlwind of movement, fiddling with the innumerable controls of the console. He was smiling once more: piercing eyes sparking with amusement and heavy features pulled into the manic grin that graced his face too often to be true.

He was also murmuring to his ship as though he expected it to answer back, intent on the task at hand.

It hit her that what happened at the undertaker's parlour in nineteenth century Cardiff, was just another day to him. Never mind that lives had changed and even ended not half an hour ago. To him, it was just time for the next stop.

The realisation made her gut clench with unease, so when he turned to her, an expectant eyebrow raised and mouth forming a question, she quickly interrupted.

'I should go get out of this kit, yeah?' She hoped her voice sounded light-hearted instead of awkward.

Without waiting for an answer, she headed back through the twisting hallways and corridors of the TARDIS. She hoped she wouldn't become lost on the way there; it would defeat the purpose of her abrupt departure if she needed to go back and ask for directions.

With any luck, her excuse would give her the time to gather her composure. All she needed after the latest debacle in Cardiff was another fit of temper. She had already exploded at him twice since he brought her on board his amazing ship.

_Not that I don't deserve to be a little shaken up, because seriously, _zombies!

And fine, they had been dead bodies possessed by gas aliens and not real zombies, but that didn't mean the whole experience hadn't been like something from a horror film.

She strode into the wardrobe room, her shakiness momentarily forgotten as she gazed about the place in wonder. The sheer size of it still amazed her. Bigger on the inside, she might be able to accept – barely – but this?

The huge spiral staircase in the centre appeared to grow out of the floor like a tree, with twists of clothing racks bordering on all sides. It wasn't even possible to see all the way to the top; she suspected that it just continued on endlessly in either direction.

After she returned to the section where she found her fancy gown earlier, Rose was surprised to find her own clothing folded up neatly beside the rack. She remembered almost tearing them off in her excitement to shimmy into the dress. It occurred to her that the only one able to pick up after her would be the TARDIS.

'Er, thanks,' she spoke hesitantly to the towering walls. She half expected to hear a disembodied voice answer back – not much would surprise her after the past two days.

When she heard nothing beyond the constant background hum, she set about undoing the fastenings of the gown.

She was careful not to rip the material or damage it in any way. The dress exemplified the type of extravagance that she would never have been able to afford back home, even when she still worked at Henrick's. As she examined it, she wondered if she should have gotten a picture of herself all kitted out just to show her mates when she got home.

_Not that I'd be able to tell them where I wore it to… or who I met while wearing it_, she thought with a heavy sigh. _Not that any of them would even care_.

She imagined none of her friends knew who Charles Dickens was, to be honest, but that didn't surprise her considering where she grew up. More important to worry where your next meal was coming from than about a long-dead writer. Only the day-to-day held any importance, no matter how mundane.

That was how she had always lived.

For the first nineteen years of it, nothing happened in Rose's life. Never.

She didn't count her father dying when she was a baby, or the stormy, toxic relationship with Jimmy Stone. Those sorts of milestones remained disturbingly commonplace on and around the Estate. If she had been stupid enough to end up pregnant as well, she might have just been another Council statistic. Beyond a particularly worrying scare at sixteen, she had managed all right.

Growing up, her mother was more of a chatty drunk than a mean one. And that the men Jackie Tyler brought back to the flat every so often were a decent enough sort that Rose never felt unsafe.

Still, there had been nothing special or remarkable about Rose's childhood and she spent most of it dreaming of better things. Of being able to go on holiday somewhere exotic, or eat in posh restaurants or even to just buy clothes that weren't discount. But as she knew (and was so often reminded by friends and family alike) people like her didn't get to do any of that. No matter how hard they worked.

Except for the mysterious appearance of a red bicycle when she was twelve, she had never been given anything for free in her life. What little she owned, she worked hard for. Rose had been minding children around the Estate since she the age of ten, and after Jimmy she had worked the till in the Christmas Shop on Clifton's Parade. It was only recently she had even found the job at Henrick's. While it differed only incrementally from the Christmas Shop in terms of income, it meant she no longer needed to wear a Santa hat in October.

If she listened to her mother and her mates, she was already considered one of the luckier ones. She worked in a high end department store and had a nice bloke she would probably end up marrying in a few years. If she was _really_ fortunate – she might settle down in one of the more upscale flats on the Estate.

To them, wanting anything else beyond that was unreasonable and selfish.

Rose had learned a long time ago to keep her dreams of a better life to herself, lest she be accused of putting on airs.

But everything changed when she met the Doctor.

He opened her eyes to a world she never even dared imagine existed. It was so far removed from what her everyday experience that she didn't know what to think.

Since they met, she may have nearly died four times (that she counted), but it was the first time in her very short life that she felt alive.

She had almost screwed that up, though, telling him "no" when he first asked her to come along with him. Even though she wanted nothing more even before he offered the invitation, her refusal had been automatic. It was one born of a lifetime of being told not to reach farther than what she already possessed.

The doubts and reservations she from that minute remained clear in her mind now.

Maybe her life in London wasn't an exciting one, but it was hers. She had family and friends and a boyfriend who had begged her not to leave, and why would this amazing, brilliant alien want an ordinary human like her around?

She had sensed the Doctor's disappointment with her answer, but he thankfully had not tried to shame her or guilt her into changing her mind. No, she had done that very well herself.

From the instant the wailing sound of the TARDIS disappearing from the alley faded away, Rose had recognised her mistake. As she stared down at Mickey, she had had the sudden sense of being weighed down by an anchor. She realised that he, like most of their friends, wanted everything to stay as it was. He would probably spend the rest of their lives pretending nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and they had not just thwarted an alien invasion. And he would be fine with it.

But she wouldn't.

Something had changed in Rose, and she couldn't go back to the normal way of things.

When the Doctor returned eighteen seconds later and asked her again with the flimsy excuse of time travel, she had not hesitated again. Even though she still had not known why he wanted her to come with him, she grabbed the chance and ran toward it.

Her earlier doubts chose now to resurface.

The incident with the Gelth had shown her that there was more to her travelling companion than she suspected, even with his rare and ambiguous confessions. More than that, for all those lives he saved, there always seemed to be the few he couldn't.

Charles Dickens, who would be dead within a year. Gwyneth, who sacrificed herself to save them all. That tree woman that helped him on Platform One, and Raffalo – Rose still wasn't sure what happened to the woman from Crespallion; she had not been able to find her after the repair of the sun filter. The look in the Doctor's eyes had told Rose that anyone missing from Platform One wouldn't have lived through the disaster.

_Is this what it's going to be? Meet people and then lose them?_ _Is that what things are like for the Doctor?_

If so, it explained a lot about why he kept his distance. And why he didn't seem to care about stupid little humans who wanted to sacrifice themselves for matters they didn't understand.

If ever she doubted that what you didn't know might kill you, she never would again.

Rose scowled, acknowledging that she was being a bit unfair.

Then she decided she didn't care.

The situation with the Gelth still rankled.

The Doctor had practically led Gwyneth by the hand to form that link with the deceptive creatures. Even after Rose tried to tell them it wasn't a good idea.

_Why? Because he's a higher life form and what would I know, being a stupid human?_

'Get used to it or go home,' he had said.

He was right, to an extent. The past and future were different worlds, and no doubt she would come face to face with many foreign ideas and customs if she kept travelling with him.

_But I was right too!_

Her gut insisted there was something off about the Gelth, and he had brushed it off like she was some stupid kid. A silly child instead of a woman that grew up on one of the rougher Estates in the East End. That ignorance had gotten Sneed and Gwyneth killed, and her and the Doctor nearly done in as well.

What if it happened again, in an even worse situation?

He had said things could be erased, and thinking on it now, a stab of fear replaced Rose's anger. Had the events in Cardiff not turned out the way they did, would it have meant all of history changed? Would she and the Doctor never have met? How did that even work?

Would he even care?

He had been callous since they started travelling together, always walking away from her rather than engaging, and using sarcasm to forestall any prying questions. Everything about him screamed "back off". He obviously didn't like it when people disagreed with him. That was downright obvious when she tried to convince him to leave Gwyneth alone. He had gotten huffy, Gwyneth had gotten understandably, if unintentionally, insulted, and Sneed had gotten his neck snapped.

But then in that dank basement he had seemed so genuine when he told her he was happy to have met her. The way he looked at her made her think that underneath all the prickle there was a decent bloke.

_Well, of course he's a decent bloke_, she rolled her eyes at that thought. _If he weren't, I never would have said "yes" when he came back for me._

Still, her own character judgements aside, in two days he had lost his temper more than once.

She had been in this situation before, with Jimmy Stone. An entire travesty of a relationship filled with her head telling her to get out while her heart ignored it. She was lucky the whole affair had not ended worse. What if that happened again? And with the Doctor, Rose suspected she would end up with far worse than a bruised eye and ₤800 in debt.

Rose shook her head, half in denial and half to clear it.

She could always go back out there right now and tell him she made a mistake. He had told her point blank that if they didn't suit he would just drop her back at home and no one would notice.

_But do I want to? _Rose wondered, pushing her arm through the sleeve of her grey top.

Surprisingly, her answer was "no".

She didn't want to leave the Doctor, despite everything. She recognised that travelling with him was a once in a life time opportunity, one she should embrace.

But she also worried about what he might do on his own.

Whatever happened to his planet obviously continued to affect him negatively. He showed little concern for his own life and seemed unbothered by trifling little matters like corpses walking around in the nineteenth century.

_He needs help, whatever he might think_, she decided. That seemed only half true though. A voice nagged at the back of her mind, telling her that her reluctance to leave wasn't completely about not trusting him on his own.

If she was being entirely honest with herself, right now the idea of telling him she wanted to go home was more terrifying than anything she could think of. Even as she tried to picture her life after he dropped her off, she it impossible. She couldn't see anything in the future without his daft face popping up.

In her heart, she didn't believe she should sit at home, safe and docile, when she might be out having adventures and finding trouble. Preferably with the Doctor, seeing as how he generally seemed to know how to find his way back out again.

From what she had seen, he caused of a lot of that same adventure and trouble, but still…

_It hasn't even been two days – what's wrong with me?_ Rose scolded herself and then blinked as her mind went over those words again.

Maybe that was it. Exhaustion. So long without sleep, no wonder she wasn't thinking straight. Once she got some rest, all of this would make more sense to her.

And, if they _did_ continue travelling together, there needed to be a shift in the power dynamic. He might be the designated driver, and she might just be an ape, but Rose Tyler intended to be listened to. The Doctor might have known Time and Space like the back of his hand, but she understood about people and their intentions.

If the Doctor had ever had the same insight into human (alien?) nature, the Time War had obviously done a number on it.

Mind made up, Rose zipped up her hoodie and headed back to the control room. It wouldn't hurt to ask the Doctor whether there was somewhere on the ship for a quick kip.

She would sort out everything else after that.

· ΔΩ ·

* * *

**End Note:** As treat for the fashion enthusiasts, I'll be posting Rose's outfits on my Pinterest. You can find all of them (as I add them) under my Rose Tyler Clothing Ideas board. As for this chapter, you can find them here. This site doesn't let me put URLs, but if you type in the address to Pinterest followed by the numbers below, you can see everything. Or just go searching yourself, everything is labeled :P

Cardiff: pin/393713192400111329/

Casual: pin/393713192400111272/


	2. Chapter Two

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

She would leave him. The Doctor was almost completely sure of it.

He heard it in the false note in her voice when she had stopped him from asking about their next destination. And there was the fact she was taking much longer in the wardrobe than the complexities of Victorian fashion should warrant.

No doubt she was preparing to tell him to bring her home.

And he couldn't even fault her for it.

He had made a right pig's ear of things, especially in how he handled their most recent adventure. If he weren't such a coward – if he had used his battered temporal senses instead of relying on his damned Time Lord superiority complex – perhaps…

Perhaps Gwyneth wouldn't have died.

But no, he had not even considered looking into the timelines. The potential mental anguish had been too high a cost.

Once again, he had been proved wrong.

Desperate and guilty about the victims of the Time War, the Doctor had allowed himself to be deceived by the Gelth. They had played on his better nature, and he had fallen for it. He tried to tell himself that it wasn't all arrogance. He had just wanted, for once since the beginning of the War, to be able to save a doomed species instead of sealing their fate. To fix something, instead of breaking it. With Time cut loose since the destruction of Gallifrey, he had thought it would be safe enough to alter this timeline temporarily.

Nothing remained set since he pushed that button. If anyone got a say in reality changing, shouldn't it be him?

Not according to Rose, apparently, and he wondered if perhaps she wasn't the wiser of the two of them because of that.

She had questioned him, tried to tell him that something might be wrong, and he had ignored her. She had trusted him and he had let her down and all but led her into a basement crypt to die.

And still the impossible little ape had looked him in the eye and forgiven him! Told him she wanted to come with him, absolved him of guilt in her impending death before promising him they would go down fighting!

The Doctor still felt the strong grip of her hand, saw the smile of shared understanding. In that second, something had happened. He had always been the coward, even during those dark seconds before he used the Moment. But gazing into Rose Tyler's eyes in the face of their certain deaths, he had been brave.

It made the betrayal in those eyes when he escaped the morgue without Gwyneth sting all the more. Rose was one of those people who formed attachments wherever she went –she had cared about the Welsh girl without knowing her an hour.

Perhaps that was why she had agreed to travel with him? Because she had formed an attachment to him?

He supposed attachment was better than pity, but didn't know if that made her wise or foolish. People who cared with their whole heart lived hard lives. Had not he learned that excruciating lesson himself, a hundred times over?

Perhaps it was for the best then.

Rose was bright and intelligent and had so much potential concentrated in her frail human body, but obviously she wasn't cut out for travelling with him.

Except in all the ways she was.

He shook his head. She would inevitably leave him. They always did.

He squared his shoulders and set the coordinates, deciding he would at least make it a quick, clean break before either of them to became too invested. The TARDIS hummed almost mutinously at the back of his mind, but he ignored it as the keening wail announced that their arrival.

For the best, really, he had just ruin her in the end –

'What're you doing?'

He jerked, his convoluted thoughts having distracted him from noticing Rose's arrival in the console room.

She was once more clad in the baggy trappings of twenty-first century casual and approaching him warily. Like he was a rabid dog or a horse she didn't want to spook. Her smile held a cautious edge as well.

He looked away. 'Just brought us to the next stop.'

'Yeah? When are we?' she asked, tone curious but careful.

'2005,' he answered neutrally. 'London.'

She let out a near inaudible exhalation. He pictured her face falling, the grin disappearing into that saddened frown he had already witnessed at least a dozen times since they met. When she spoke, it was quiet and toneless, 'You brought me home.'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

That brought him up short, and he shot her a disbelieving look. 'You need to ask?'

'But I thought…' she started, sounding uncertain and so very, very young.

'What, that this would be a long-term arrangement? Nah, you've got a lovely life of tea and chips to get back to,' he rambled cheerfully, trying to keep things light. If he could manage, maybe they could part on good terms. 'One trip to the future off-planet, one trip to the past and a different city which covers both the time and the space bits. So now it's time for you to go your way, and me to go–'

'No.'

The Doctor paused mid-speech and stared. 'What?'

'I said "no". You're just trying to get rid of me.'

Damn. The same perceptiveness he found so alluring before now worked against him. He attempted nonchalant innocence, ignoring the tightening in his lungs and how the muscles in his abdomen twitched uncomfortably.

'Why would I do that?' he retorted.

'So I don't ask you about what just happened,' Rose answered matter-of-factly. 'With the Gelth.'

'Oh, no – nope. I don't do post-match analysis, ta very much,' he quipped, the tight sensation in his lungs increasing and the sound of his pulses echoing in his ears. 'Life's too short for that, even for me –'

'Well, too bad, because I think it might do you some good,' she interrupted, arms crossing.

'You _do_, do you? Don't recall asking your opinion on the matter.'

'Right, cos you can dish it out but you can't take it?'

'Oh, I can take plenty – more than you can imagine – enough that I don't see the need in taking anymore.'

'Well too bad, because that's what life is. You take the bad with the good because otherwise what's the point?!'

Rose seemed to notice her voice rising because she inhaled as if to calm down. In a conciliatory voice, she went on, 'Doctor, I don't know exactly what happened to you before we met. And that's okay, you don't have to tell me. But I can only imagine.'

The Doctor wanted to say there was no possible way she could imagine what he had been through, but she went on without giving him the chance to. Perhaps she feared if he started talking, he wouldn't stop. 'Our neighbour Sandra's husband went over in Iraq for a bit, and when he came back, he wasn't the same. Everyone said it was, um, PTSD or something like that. He got these, sort of, episodes and –'

'I know what PTSD is,' he interrupted. 'And it doesn't apply in this case. Time Lords are above that.'

'Oh yeah? Lots of studies about it where you're from?' Rose challenged, not to be mean, but trying to make a point. 'You lost your planet, Doctor. That's got to have some kind of effect, no matter how superior your biology is! And if that effect is like what happened today… then there's a problem.'

'I told you before that this life was dangerous,' he hedged, trying to will his blood pressure under control. For whatever reason, it was spiking in much the same way it did in the middle of a death-defying escape. Except without the pleasant burn of adrenaline and endorphins. 'Not everyone can handle it – not your fault. Least you gave it the old college try, which is more than most of your species can say.'

'That's bollocks and you know it! I figured it was dangerous before I came along, yeah, and now I've seen for myself. But guess what I'm even surer of! That it's definitely better with two. You shouldn't be alone.'

'I've managed long enough with no problems.'

'No, you're not hearing me! You _shouldn't_ be alone. You're not thinking clearly cos of whatever happened. Someone needs to stop you from making mistakes like with the Gelth, or you'll get yourself and a lot of people killed.'

For a second complete silence reigned in the control room – even the TARDIS appeared to be holding her breath at the boldness of that statement.

The Doctor's blood boiled. How dare she – a primitive organism barely out of its larval stage, compared to him – question his decisions? When there was no higher authority in the universe than him, by his own damned making?

'And I suppose an ex-shop girl that hasn't even finished school will be that someone?' he asked coldly. He had engaged his respiratory bypass out of shock and anger.

The colour drained from her face. 'How did you – you been getting your ship to look in my head?'

'Why would I? Could do it myself if I wanted to,' he answered dispassionately. He had not done either. He recalled the tail-end of her conversation with her idiot boyfriend at that restaurant, before the Autons attacked. She had made her aversion to telepathy known from that first trip. If it meant playing on that to get her stop prying into matters she didn't understand and leave him alone, then he would do it.

'And when were you going to tell me that?' she demanded, suitably distracted. 'You couldn't've mentioned this when I asked you about what makes you different from humans?'

'I told you I have better senses. That's one of 'em.'

'That's not a sense, it's a…' she trailed off, her hands clenching into fists. 'So is this what you're like? You and your ship poking about in people's heads? Cor, how do I know you didn't just put the idea in my head to make me come along with you in the first place?'

The accusation tore at him.

He had forced no one to travel with him in centuries, and even then he would never have…

Likely she didn't realise the gravity of such an insinuation, but even so he could no longer hold back the sudden wave of pain that washed over him. His pulses thundered in his ears as his blood pressure shot up, and even with the respiratory bypass his lungs constricted. The twitching muscles in his abdomen were joined by the sharp, twisting pain in his back and shoulders, and his skin felt like it was too tight for his body.

Feelings of fear and hopelessness and helplessness swirled in his mind as her ringing accusations triggered his fight-or-flight response.

'As if I'd waste time on a stubborn ape brain,' he snarled at her, lashing out and pushing the buttons he instinctively knew would twist the metaphorical knife. 'Wouldn't even be an effort, that.'

'You trying to say something?' she challenged, brown eyes flashing.

He rolled his eyes. 'Of course, you'd take that personal. Never mind that I'm just stating a fact. Human minds are infinitely less complex than other species I've met.' He shook his head, scoffing in annoyance. 'See, this is what I'm trying to avoid – paranoid conspiracy theories from an East End bint that's barely set two foot outside the door.'

Rose's jaw dropped, and he didn't need any telepathic ability to see that the barb managed to hit its target. Anger and hurt and disbelief radiated off her in waves. For a moment he thought he was about to have the full blast of the temper she had unleashed on Sneed directed at him.

Instead, she fixed him with an icy look that made his stomach pull tight in guilt.

'Fine,' she snapped. 'How's this for setting foot outside the door?'

And before he could blink, she turned and stalked out of the control room, slamming the door shut on her way out of the console room.

For one long minute, the Doctor's common sense faltered.

Slowly, he began to calm down and his heartsrate return to normal. A shuddering sense of relief washed over him that whatever just happened was now over. In its place came a sudden confusion as to what he had just done and why.

He never lost control like that before. Even during his more volatile incarnations, he was never so deliberately cruel to someone undeserving of it without a reason. Not to his enemies, and certainly not to his companions.

As the TARDIS droned reproachfully, he tried to pinpoint at what stage the discussion had delineated into an earnest row. He was no stranger to disagreeing with companions – sort of an occupational hazard, really – but he was generally certain of being firmly in the right.

This time, he wasn't so sure.

She had said this life was "better with two", and she was right. If only she understood how particular he was about the other half of that "two". He had travelled long enough to understand that even in the constant company of others, there was a difference between travelling with just anyone and being with a kindred spirit.

Inexplicably, despite their short acquaintance, she was the latter. More than – she was clever and adapted well and forgave him the idiosyncrasies other companions would have derided or despaired of. Or worse, spent months quietly resenting. Something about her and the way he felt around her reminded him of something he had not experienced since his boyhood.

It was this that kept catching him off balance and what he suspected caused him to provoke the row in the first place. Because after everything he had done, he didn't deserve to have even a hint of that anymore.

So it was really a good thing he had gotten her to leave, in spite of her grandiose claims of wanting to be there for him. All that mattered now was to move on. Big universe out there that needed saving, and she would be better of going on with her life.

He nodded decisively and reached for the nearest lever to start the dematerialization sequence.

Only to jerk back with a curse as the TARDIS sent a stinging jolt of electricity his way.

'What the hell are you doing?' he demanded, only to be cut off by an angry hum and the bright flashing of the view screen. 'Nope, not listening anymore. You've said your piece, and I went along with it! Got a brassed-off Karkinian and a stroppy blond for the trouble which is more than enough complication for one day, thanks.'

He reached again for the lever, but the electric shock this time was stronger, causing him to let out a loud and particularly vulgar Gallifreyan curse in response.

The view screen flickered more insistently. He glared at it in contempt for a few seconds before the exact nature of what he was seeing penetrated the anger fuelled fog of his mind.

And then he was vaulting towards the TARDIS door and out into a world that was decidedly not twenty-first century Earth.

He needed to stop Rose from wandering too far before she got into trouble.

When he narrowly avoided the sudden end of the ground beneath his feet, he realised that might be too late.

· ΔΩ ·


	3. Chapter Three

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

It took Rose about five-and-a-half seconds to realise that she wasn't back on the Estate as she expected. Instead, she had walked out into a dense, leafy, forested area.

In that same amount of time, she even managed to think a few uncharitable thoughts towards the Doctor – _Bloody rubbish driver, couldn't even get me back home right. Probably landed us in the middle of Hyde Park or something. Won't that be a treat getting back home, and me without my Oyster? – _and wonder how she would explain to her mother where she'd been for… however long she'd been away.

It wouldn't be the first time she needed to make a long journey home on foot. But she wasn't about to go crawling back to the Doctor and plead with him to drop her off properly. Not after what he'd said to her.

She realised a further half-second later, the irrelevance of that resolution, when her next step forward pitched her into thin air. The momentum of her furious gait was faster than her reflexes, it seemed, because at that moment she found herself plunging forward and falling into nothingness.

A shriek tore from her throat. Air rushed past her, followed by quite a lot of green, before she ended up on solid ground again. With quite a detour involving slipping, rolling and scraping down what appeared to be some kind of cliff side.

It seemed like several minutes before she came to a rest, landing flat on her back on blessedly soft ground.

'Ow.'

Dazed, Rose squinted up in the direction she had just fallen from, and dimly realised it wasn't a cliff she had tumbled off of. Instead a towering, curving structure of bark and leaves stretched up an impossible distance into the sky.

The ground she lay on was mossy, and it took her the better part of a minute to understand she lay at the base of a giant tree. A giant tree in a forest that seemed to encompass the entire area. From what she observed, every tree stretched for kilometres into the sky, as high as mountains.

Not only was she not in Hyde Park nor any other recognisable park in London, it seemed very likely that she wasn't even on Earth. And she had, apparently, just fallen off of a very large, very high tree branch.

Curiosity and wonder edged her earlier anger and fear out of the way if only for a moment. She stared in awe at the world of giant trees she now found herself in.

The damp smell of forest and rain hit her at the same time as the confirmation that she was no longer anywhere near Earth. The giant branches were all connected together in a kind of network that reminded her of flyovers, yet there was no evidence of cars or other vehicles on them. She could, however, make out buildings; every half kilometre or so there appeared to be a cluster of edifices that grew out of or were built into the woodwork of the giant trees. They were shaped roughly like igloos, but probably made of wood and reeds.

Despite the size of the vegetation, enough natural light filtered down through the treetops to illuminate the clusters of buildings in a comforting green glow.

For an indeterminable amount of time she tried to figure out how she hadn't died. Nothing seemed to be broken (she'd examined her arms and legs and barring a few bruises she appeared to be fine). She wasn't bleeding beyond a scrape or two, yet she'd clearly fallen at least a few kilometres.

'Might be the gravity here is different,' she guessed as she stood up, remembering that one News Round Extra about space travel as she did so. She gave an experimental hop and was thrilled to discover she hovered in the air longer than she would have back on Earth. 'Oh, that's brilliant!'

She grinned in momentary amazement, but the expression faded a second later when she suddenly remembered her circumstances.

She was on an alien planet.

She was on an unknown alien planet, completely alone because she and the Doctor had rowed and all-but kicked her out.

Or thought he had.

A sudden stab of fear lanced through her.

He'd been bringing her home – obviously he hadn't checked to make sure, what if he didn't bother to make sure before he left? What if he just up and swanned off, leaving her on an alien planet with no way of ever getting home again?

'DOCTOR!' she yelled, staring upwards again and trying in vain to see any indication of his blue timeship in the canopy of trees. There was no answer, and so she called again. 'Doctor! Help!'

Just as quickly she clapped her hands over her mouth as if it could help keep down the fear fluttering in her stomach.

_What a stupid thing to do!_ _End up somewhere strange and start screaming!_

Forests tended to have animals, didn't they? And sometimes people who lived in them. What if they didn't like stranger on this planet?

She took a shuddering breath and forced herself to calm down, trying to get a handle on the panic and _think_.

Her words had echoed for a bit instead of fading away, which she took as a good sign. If her voice echoed that way from down here, the TARDIS would definitely make a noise. She hadn't noticed the sound the ship made when it disappeared, and that would certainly have echoed throughout the silent forest.

_The box and the nutter inside it are still here_, she reflected gratefully. _He hasn't left… yet. But he could_.

She swallowed another wave of panic.

_No, I can't think like that. If I do, I might as well curl into a ball and wait for forest monsters to eat me._

So the next question: what should she do? Every choice depended on the Doctor not leaving, which could still happen at any point. In fact, she remained a bit surprised it hadn't happened already. Hadn't he decided he was well-shot of her, bringing her home without so much as telling her he planned to do it?

Anger flared up in place of fear once more when she remembered the last bit of trouble he had caused, just by going ahead with his whims. She might be an East End bint "who barely set two foot outside the door", but the first lesson she'd learned growing up was not to trust strangers.

_And if the Gelth weren't strangers, I don't know what they were!_

But no, the mighty Time Lord had just decided not only to accept their story but the fact that their presence might change the world! Even if the Gelth hadn't turned out to be murderous gas beings and really had been survivors of the Doctor's War! That didn't mean he would be able to predict what would happen once they came through!

_Bloody hoity-toity, know-it-all, conceited…_

On the coattails of that notion was her own mean-spirited insinuations; row or not, she probably shouldn't have implied he had forced her to come with him. They both understood that she had wanted to even before he had asked the first time.

_I should probably apologise for that, at least_, she thought guiltily, then shook herself.

She had to come up with a plan and resolutely ignore any chance that she would be stuck here indefinitely.

She should wait where she landed and hope the Doctor decided to come after her. Perhaps he would step out and discover her absence, start calling her name, see that she was down here and materialise the TARDIS beside her.

Of course, that involved the Doctor actually coming after her, which she doubted he would feel like doing now. Even if he did, what would stop him from falling off of the giant tree branch himself?

_Well, at least we'd both be stuck down here, and I'd have a chance to say sorry while we try to get back to the TARDIS._

The problem remained that the Doctor might never step out of the TARDIS, might get over whatever was delaying him at any moment, and then take off.

If she waited, she might end up being stuck here. Rose didn't know when night would fall or what kind of dangers lurked in the tree world.

She ought to try her luck getting back to the TARDIS herself. It looked like the grassy walls and rock-face were climbable, and higher up it seemed like there were paths along the branches. Possibly she might get help from the locals, provided they weren't cannibals or something equally grim.

_Problem with that_, she decided as she tried to figure out which branch she had fallen from, _is that I might end up more lost than I am right now._

She didn't even know where she was going. Trying to get back to the TARDIS was all well and good, but she wasn't even completely sure of what branch the TARDIS was on.

And getting up there – yes, some of the walls looked climbable, but what if the plants in the area were poisonous? Or the insects? She knew absolutely nothing about this world and didn't even have the luxury of the Doctor being by her side to point things out to her.

A noise sounded suddenly in the distance – a low-pitched, savage howl that made the hairs on the back of Rose's neck and arms stand on end. She nodded to herself.

'Right. Time to climb for the TARDIS,' she decided. Self-preservation and a healthy sense of fear drowned out whatever other qualms she had, as well as the idea that staying put would be the smartest choice. 'Maybe there's a path.'

She wandered around the clearing, and then beyond, keeping an ear out for whatever had made that sound. Or any sign of the TARDIS leaving. Of that the Doctor might be looking for her.

Bushes of thick, square leaves appeared to obscure every possible path. Even after forcing herself to take several calming breaths to choose which one she should finally take, she was no closer to braving the foliage and vines than before.

Just when she was about to give up hope, she heard a sudden shout that warmed her heart.

'ROSE!?'

Her name echoed across the upper branches of the trees, and she barely held back a delighted and slightly hysterical laugh. 'Doctor?! Doctor, I'm down here!'

'Rose! I can't see you!'

_I must be really far down if Mr. Superior Time Lord Eyesight can't see me_, she mused giddily.

'I fell off the tree branch! I'm down on the ground!'

'Stay where you are, I'll come to you!'

'Long as I don't have to wait too long!' she called back, trying to force humour into her voice instead of showing off her relief. She didn't need him believing she was scared, even if he intended to bring her back home anyhow. She wouldn't have the Doctor thinking her a coward.

Something snapped loudly behind her, and she whirled around, half expecting him to appear behind her.

_Wait, I didn't hear the TARDIS move yet_…

And that tread sounded too heavy for the Doctor –

And it wasn't.

The creature that emerged from the bushes was unlike anything she had ever seen or even imagined before. All she saw for a moment was a violent, electric blue; then colour and form sharpened, and she saw a feathered head that resembled a cross between a bird and a turtle. Intense white eyes, rimmed with black veins glared hatefully at her, which would have been terrifying on its own, without the rest of it.

The animal's gaping maw was filled with razor sharp fangs and some kind of spike or tusk on each side, ideal for goring and tearing. As it slunk forward, she saw that its shoulders lost the feathers. Instead of the wings she would have expected, they led to leathery looking scales covering the rest of its powerfully built body. It was a quadruped, six fingers on each appendage and with wicked looking talons on each.

Ideal for tearing into any unsuspecting humans that it came upon.

At that juncture she remembered why she had decided not to go yelling in a strange and mysterious alien forest

'Oh, this isn't good,' she said, unable to keep the squeak from her voice as she began to back up.

The creature growled and leaped at her, and this time Rose didn't hold back her scream of terror.

· ΔΩ ·


	4. Chapter Four

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

Rose dove to one side, feeling the rush of displaced air as the beast careened into the space she had occupied moments before.

She didn't wait to see if it recovered its balance, instead taking off in the direction it had come from. That seemed to be the only place where there was any sort of path out of the clearing.

She needed to find somewhere to hide until the Doctor got the TARDIS down here. As the angry growls became closer and a hiding spot failed to appear, though, she decided she was more worried about outrunning the beast than the Doctor saving her.

Rose found her saving grace when she spotted a low hanging vine in the distance.

'Oh, please let this work,' she gasped and took a running jump towards it.

For a half-second she sailed through the air, her hands grasping at nothing, and then just as quickly her fingers wrapped around the thick plant. Even more importantly, despite pulling taut with her weight, it held.

She didn't let herself relax, though, instead shimmying up as far as she was able.

It was just in time, too.

The creature had caught up to her and was now jumping and swiping at her, like a huge and sinister cat trying to get at a bird.

A snapping noise from above caught her attention, and she saw with horror that even with the different gravity, the vine wouldn't hold her weight for long. Especially not with the creature worrying at it from below.

_I'm going to be eaten_, she realised with a sinking sensation. _Forget dying in a basement in Cardiff, _this_ is definitely worse!_

The creature swiped at her again, and she felt one of its claws graze her thigh, making her clench her eyes and grunt in pain.

Rose waited for the next blow to connect more lethally.

_Thwack!_

The beast let out a sudden snarl and reared back.

_Thwack! Thwack!_

Rose cracked one eye open, watching in amazement as a shadowy figure on the lowest nearby tree branch hurled rocks or perhaps pinecones down at the beast.

'Oi! Alien-person!' a trilling voice shouted at her. 'Can you swing over here?'

'I-I think so,' Rose called back.

Several other missiles landed below her as the beast tried to get close, kept at bay by whoever hid in the overhang.

'Then do it, fast! That vine won't hold long!'

With a set goal in mind, Rose moved her body side to side, desperately trying to gain the momentum to bring her closer to the low-lying branch. Her thighs and upper arms burned as she sought to bring herself as high as possible before the vine snapped. All the while, the mysterious stranger kept the creature distracted.

There was a sudden give in the vine as Rose reached the highest point of her arc. With no other recourse, she threw herself into the air.

Emptiness swallowed her, and her legs flailed uselessly. Her hands gripped the air, clawing through it in search of something solid –

Two feathered, webbed hands reached out, one grabbing her by the arm and the other trying to steady her by grasping the back of her shirt. Between her mystery rescuer and herself, she managed to haul herself up and across the rough bark of the lowest branch.

She didn't even have time catch her breath before she was being dragged away from the ledge.

'Come on, we need to hurry, that won't stop it long!' her rescuer said, letting go of Rose and taking off at a run. 'They can still move around here on the lower levels – the higher we get, the more likely it is to get stuck somewhere!'

They wasted no time running up the difficult terrain of the huge branch, reaching a curtain of vines that her rescuer climbed at once. Rose followed suit, glad to find that these lianas were stronger and easier to scramble up than the last one was.

There was discontented grunting and yowling behind them, suggesting the creature was still trying to get to them, but the higher they climbed the less intent the sound got.

Alternately clambering up vines and hiking through the thickly overgrown branches, Rose and her rescuer made it several more levels up in the tree before they slowed. Finally, they came to a stop.

'I think we lost it,' the alien told her.

'Yeah,' Rose panted, bending over her knees as she tried to catch her breath. For the first time, she got a good look at her rescuer.

The native (for lack of a better term) was humanoid, but that was the only thing it seemed to have in common with Rose. Instead of skin, it was covered from head to toe in feathers. Even its hair – or whatever those protrusions coming from its scalp were – was feathery. It didn't appear to have a nose, but some kind of horned protrusion above its nostrils and tiny mouth.

_Whatever it is, it's female_, she decided, taking in the familiar anatomy and the way she was dressed in a breast band and loincloth. She also carried a sling bag. _Barely more than a girl, judging by that figure. Unless they're all shaped like that?_

Like the creature, the girl didn't actually have wings, although her fingers were webbed and ended in black talons.

'Thanks,' Rose offered once she caught her breath. 'For the whole… life-saving thing.'

The feathered girl looked her over sharply with yellow-orange eyes. 'You're a girl.'

'Er… yeah?' Rose said, somewhat caught off-guard. She glanced down at her hoodie and baggy jeans; there was a bloody scratch in the side of the latter. 'Is that a problem?'

'No. You just don't dress like one,' the girl said, still sounding suspicious. She talked strangely around a mouth with no teeth. 'I can never tell with you aliens.'

Rose chuckled nervously at that. She wasn't used to being considered the alien one. 'I suppose you're at least used to it. Lots of aliens come here, I guess?'

'Enough,' the girl answered. 'Lots of off-planet workers.' She considered Rose again. 'I thought you were one of the alien boys they sometimes hire to work in the mines. It would have explained why you were alone on the ground. And without a chaperone. You shouldn't do that, you know. It's dangerous for females to walk around here alone, even without the Okpulonashoba.'

'The what?'

'The creature that was about to make you into dinner.'

'Oh. Right. Well… thanks again for that,' Rose said, disliking the girl's standoffish attitude. Even if she had saved her life, she decided she didn't really want to hang around with her. 'Anyhow, I've got to get back to… where I was before. Got separated from my friend – er, chaperone – and he'll be looking for me.'

'Was he back there?' the girl glanced back the direction they had come from, looking suddenly uncertain.

'Well, no, last I spoke to him he was calling down from one of those branches up there,' Rose pointed. 'I sort of… fell off it and we were separated.'

'You're lucky you fell off this side then; the other side faces the rock quarry. It's not nearly as soft a landing.'

Rose shivered. 'Right.'

'You can't go back down there,' the girl told her with a frown. 'The beasts hunt in packs. We had enough trouble getting away from that stray, it's a miracle the rest of them didn't show up.'

'But I have to! The Doctor told me to stay put so he could come get me. If it hadn't been for that Ok… Oka-thing, I'd still be there. He's my ride home!' A pang of worry hit Rose at that – the Doctor would be looking for her. He might end up surrounded by a pack of those… whatever they were. 'What if he goes looking for me and he gets attacked?'

'He'll be fine, if the males of his species are easily identifiable,' the girl answered. 'The Okpulonashoba do not attack males. It is why our men work the mines. If he does venture there, your friend will be safe.'

'But he might still be trying to find me down there! If he doesn't, he might think I'm dead or lost and take off without me!'

The girl shook her head vehemently. 'It's not safe down there for us. We would be killed and eaten as soon as they smell us. If you are absolutely insistent on returning, we need to have some protection at least. I will bring you to my home, and my father and brothers will return to find your friend. It is the safest choice.'

'If I cared about safe, I wouldn't be travelling with the Doctor!'

The girl cocked her head to one side. 'Would your friend rather you be alive or stumble upon your disembowelled corpse?'

Rose felt the colour drain from her face. 'All right. Guess you've got a point.'

The girl nodded approvingly. 'I knew you would see reason. Come, if we hurry we can get home by sunset and my family will be able to search all the sooner.'

'I guess…'

'Chi'Ko'Ba, by the way.'

'What?'

'My name. I am Chi'Ko'Ba,' her rescuer said with a wan smile. At least, that was the approximation that Rose could make of the chirping, trilling syllables the girl offered her. As though sensing her thoughts, the feathered girl went on, 'But you can call me Chi. I know some species have trouble with our names.'

The statement was blunt, but with truth and not intentional rudeness.

'Rose,' she said wearily.

'Nice to meet you, Rose.'

_Run for your life_, Rose thought dejectedly as she followed Chi once more.

· ΘΣ ·

The TARDIS wouldn't move.

Whether it was from mechanical malfunction or a fit of pique at his having almost left Rose behind, the Doctor didn't know. What he did know was that every second he delayed was time that she might be in danger, especially given he had no idea what planet they had landed on.

The TARDIS was mum on that too.

'You and I are going to have a chat about this when I get back,' he snapped, pointing an imperious finger at the Time Rotor, before striding out the door.

After seeking a safe way down and finding none, he realised that Rose must have fallen off the tree the way he nearly had after he left the console room. When she had called out to him, there had been no pain in her voice, so she wasn't hurt – lower gravity density, probably – but that could change.

'Rose? I'm coming down,' he shouted through the greenery. The height wouldn't be a problem for him under normal circumstances, least of all with less of a gravitational pull to worry about. 'Best move away from anywhere you might be landed on!'

There was no response from the clearing down below, and where before he had made out the pinprick of pink and yellow, now he saw nothing.

'Rose? _ROSE!'_

Without wasting another moment, he stepped off the branch and into thin air. The fall was a lazy one, and he landed with little difficulty in a crouch. Upon recovering his bearings, however, he found his suspicions to be confirmed.

The teenager was nowhere in sight.

'Rose!' he called, examining the clearing for clues as to where she may have gone.

The ground beneath his feet was firm but loamy, with a consistency like viscoelastic polyurethane foam. It made it almost impossible for the mud to hold footprints. The damp air had also effectively eliminated any trace of human scent, masking it with the smell of rain and foliage. If it hadn't been for the broken branches and debris leading in an easterly direction, the Doctor wouldn't have known where Rose had gone.

There was some broken shrubbery nearby, which he followed for several minutes to a different copse than the one where he had landed. The closely grown trees inhibited sound, and he understood now why he and Rose hadn't been able to hear each other well –

A familiar scent caught his nose, and the Doctor bent down, examining the disturbed ground. He pressed his fingers to the moss; a sticky red substance tinted his fingertips, and he grimaced.

Blood.

Human, by the look and texture of it. The odds of it not belonging to Rose were low.

'Fantastic,' he rasped, regret and pain lacing the word.

He'd gotten her hurt – killed, most like – all because of his recklessness and his temper. She hadn't wanted to leave, and he'd pushed her away – pushed her out of the safety of the TARDIS and into the danger of some unknown planet.

Now he would have to return to London and track down her family, tell them what had happened. Her mother and the idiot boyfriend.

He clenched his fist, and for a moment wondered if it might not be better not to. He never would have in the past. Companions of his had died before, and he hadn't gone looking for their families to give them any kind of answers.

Rose's game smile flashed in his face and he shook his head, resolved.

No.

Rose Tyler deserved better.

Even in their brief acquaintance, she had shown herself to be brilliant and kind-hearted, the kind of person who the universe was a little less bright for not having. Her family was owed an explanation if only to give them a chance to move on. It's what she would have wanted, he knew.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, staring up into the towering fauna, when something caught his eye. A small something, looking very fabric-like and very out of place in the plant-rich environment, snagged on the uneven surface of a vine.

Grabbing hold of one of the neighbouring ones, he hauled himself upward and looked fervently. His eyes settled on one of the lower branches where the moss and bark had been disturbed and scraped. Once he hoisted himself over there as well, he saw that there were indications of footprints leading higher into the tree forest.

Rose had gotten away.

'She's got the bronze,' he declared proudly. She'd gone and gotten herself out of trouble, of course. Why he should have thought any different was beyond him.

He beamed for a moment, before realisation hit him, and his face morphed back into a scowl.

'Rassilon save me from temperamental females!' he groused, glaring into the underbrush and telling himself that it was anger coursing through him and not an overwhelming sense of relief. 'Don't wander off! How bloody difficult a concept is that to understand?'

The forest didn't have any answer for him and he snorted to himself.

'Least she isn't Karkinian,' he muttered, as he headed off in the direction Rose seemed to have disappeared in. He recalled how his last companion had terrified the Babylonians so thoroughly that she was still talked about thousands of years afterward. 'Can't possibly do that much damage…'

Almost the moment the words escaped him, he rethought them.

This was, after all, the girl that had taken out the Nestene Consciousness with nothing but desperate intentions and dumb luck.

He had no doubt that Rose Tyler could be just as dangerous as a giant scorpion with a hair-trigger temper.

· ΔΩ ·


	5. Chapter Five

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

The climb to the upper branches of the giant trees took most of the day. All the while, Rose tried to keep an ear out for the TARDIS or the Doctor. Unfortunately, the higher they climbed, the thicker the branches became. It made it hard for sound to carry.

Even if she yelled for him, he wouldn't hear her.

_Brilliant_, she thought angrily to herself as she followed the feathered girl up the difficult paths. Every few steps she would stumble on the uneven ground and have to right herself. Despite Chi having helped her to safety earlier, for some reason she now seemed very careful not to touch Rose.

_Is there a polite way to ask what that's all about? _Rose wondered and then decided maybe she could work it into conversation. The trip had been utterly silent so far, though, so she would have to break the ice herself.

'So if girls are supposed to have chaperones down there, where's yours?' Rose asked.

Chi appeared surprised, and although she didn't blush, the way she shifted her shoulders suggested embarrassment, or possibly guilt. Like she had been caught doing something she shouldn't be.

'I...it – it's different. I know the dangers better than a foreigner.'

At this age, few things might garner that reaction. Rose grinned back at her. 'Relax. I know how it is. Parents can be a bit overbearing sometimes, yeah?'

Chi returned a faint version of the smile. 'Yeah.'

'So what were you doing? Off meeting your bloke?'

'No!' the vehemence of the denial was tinged with something like offence, and Rose wondered for a moment if she'd made some sort of social faux pas.

_Maybe these aliens don't date? I bet the Doctor would've known…_

Another spike of fear shot through her at the idea she might not get back to him.

_Don't think about that. He wouldn't leave me behind now that he knows we're not on Earth_, she told herself. Out loud, she asked Chi, 'If you weren't meeting your bloke, what were you doing? I mean, you said "dangerous", so…?'

Hesitantly, Chi drew something out of the sling bag she carried and gestured for Rose to take a look. Again, she seemed very careful not to touch Rose accidentally as she took the object which seemed to be a book-like object made of tree bark and dried foliage.

When Rose flipped it open, she saw a beautifully exact drawing of the beast that had tried to make a meal out of her. It was rendered in remarkable detail, and in a way that made it seem a lot more majestic than terrifying.

'You were… drawing?'

'I needed to be close to be precise,' Chi explained. 'The miners always tell us stories of the creature, but no one who does not venture down farther than the topmost branches actually knows what it looks like. And waiting for one of the men to come up with an accurate drawing – well, it's unlikely. They are busy with… other things.'

'So you did this just to, what? Make a better warning sign or something?' Rose raised an eyebrow, admiration for the girl's bravery welling up inside.

'That's… yeah, that's it mostly,' Chi ducked her head in embarrassment.

'And the rest of it?'

'I…' she looked at Rose uncertainly and then looked around as though worried someone might overhear her. Leaning forward conspiratorially, she whispered, 'I just really love to draw.' Shocked by her own admission, her eyes widened. 'You won't tell anyone, will you? I would get into trouble.'

'In trouble for drawing?' Rose raised an eyebrow.

'I'm meant to become an architect, like the other women of my caste.'

'An architect… like building things?'

'Yes. Our people move around every season. That always requires new houses. And with the men in the mines all the time who else will do it?'

Chi's tone of voice was dull, like she was reciting a mantra she had been forced to learn.

'But if all the women in your caste are architects, it doesn't look like there'd be a shortage any time soon,' Rose pointed out. 'You're really good – you would make some decent money selling portraits like that. There are street artists back home who keep a flat in the middle of London on what they make, and their work isn't half as good as yours.'

'Thank you… I think,' Chi said, 'but it's either become an architect or get married now that I've had my first blood.' She clenched a fist. 'I could never draw anything ever again if I was married, especially to someone like… well.' Her shoulders set. 'I have to be an architect.'

There was a dull acceptance there that Rose recognised as the same defeatism she had felt for much of her life.

'No, you don't,' she told her. 'You could leave. Go somewhere where you can do whatever you want.'

'Only if I were married,' Chi said, miserable. 'And what life-mate would wish to leave home just so that I am able to draw?'

'So go alone.'

Chi stared at her in shock. 'Unmarried Velopssians who travel alone can be sold into slavery. As much as I'd hate it, I'd prefer marriage.'

Rose understood that this wasn't a problem that had an easy answer, especially given the fact she did not understand about the local customs. Perhaps if the Doctor had been around they would have been able to come up with a better solution. For now, she simply decided once again that a subject change was in order.

By now they had come to the upper branches where the foliage was a bit thinner. It allowed her to see more of the new world she had accidentally fallen into.

In the distance she saw mountains, but these too were dwarfed by the enormous trees. Rose squinted out of the foliage toward the nearest cluster of what she supposed were houses. The shape of the building wasn't square like the homes back in London, but rounder and more in the resemblance of very large bird nests.

'Your world is gorgeous,' she told the other girl earnestly.

Chi hummed. 'The world does not belong to me, but yes, it is. I can't picture living anywhere else. I'm sure you feel the same about your home, when you are not travelling?'

Rose chuckled a bit. 'Well… I guess so, if you're talking about Earth. It's nice there, but I haven't seen all that much of it.'

'I haven't seen as much of here as I would like either,' Chi admitted. Then she nodded ahead of them. 'We're almost there.'

They ended up in a small alcove of space that was little more than a green patch of moss grass and some oddly shaped wooden growths. Through the vines and lianas Rose perceived that they had come closer to one cluster of houses she had seen earlier from the distance.

Beyond them was a large, open space cleared of foliage and moss but made up of a rushing throng of people and activity. Rose needed no explanation for what this was, recognising a market place even on an alien planet. The only real difference from the high streets she was used to was the people running it.

As Chi led her to the edge of it, Rose tried not to stare too long. A group – _A flock?_ – of aliens converged by an in-progress structure at the edge of the market. There appeared to be a great difference in clothing between the two sexes. The women wore threadbare loincloths and breast bands that made even Rose, who had grown up in the era of tube tops and miniskirts, feel naked by proxy. Despite their seemingly meagre clothing, the women conveyed a sense of pride and ostentation. They wore their hair – at least that's what Rose decided to call the overlong feathery protrusions from their scalps – arranged into elaborate styles peppered with glittering jewels and flowers.

The men, on the other hand, wore their hair shorn into downy fluff; their clothing was much richer looking, and gaudier. Doublets and trousers of every colour Rose ever had seen made her blink in amazement.

_Well, definitely something to get used to_, she decided, somewhat nonplussed at the sight but cautiously able to appreciate it. She reminded herself that on this world it was considered normal to look like that…

Native and non-native aliens alike wandered around the various market stalls, where tables, booths and burlap-like tents housed different crafters and their wares. The stalls were mostly run by what she guessed were the younger people, considering Chi's age and the wizened looks of other aliens they had passed. Rose thought that was strange until she reasoned that perhaps they didn't have to go to school here.

One stall that she could make out displayed the elaborate hair ornaments woven into ostentatious designs and set with brilliant gems. The hair pieces were the only discernible form of jewellery. She supposed that made sense – after all, a ring or a necklace would be less than practical to a species with webbed fingers and covered in feathers.

Rose wished she could buy a trinket as a souvenir, but she didn't know what passed for the local currency. She doubted that her wallet, containing only British currency, would do…

She shook her head, realising how caught up in the sight she was getting when she was in the middle of a crisis.

_Possibly marooned on an alien world – not the time to go window shopping!_

Besides, her own clothing and lack of feathers would mark her as a foreigner in a heartbeat. She recognised a few other creatures that were not the local species, but who was to say they would be any more or less friendly than these?

'My family lives on the other side of the market,' Chi explained. 'They're not, um, anti-alien really, but I should be the one to explain the situation to them. If you do it, they'd probably just send you to the High Council to petition. If I ask them, it's a family matter.'

'Okay,' Rose said for lack of anything better to say. She, after all, had no idea what was going on and for now it just seemed better to go with Chi's recommendations. 'In case we don't find the Doctor, is there any other way to –'

'What do we have here?' an exultant, trilling crow sounded from the bushes behind them. Rose and Chi both whirled around and stared in surprise as a group of young men appeared. The foremost wore burgundy robes that reminded Rose of a bathrobe, but which she supposed to be the height of male fashion here.

'Oh, no,' Chi murmured quietly, and Rose noticed her confidence disappear as her shoulders curved in on herself. The feathers around her neck puffed up in something like agitation.

'So, this is where you disappear to when you're supposed to be at your lessons, hey, Chi'Ko'Ba?' the male in burgundy leered, his yellow eyes flashing something like triumph. He barely looked at Rose, like she didn't register to him the way Chi did. 'If I had known that, we would have finished with this business months ago.'

'Go away, Tane,' Chis muttered, looking to their left and right like she was trying to find an escape. 'I already told you "no".'

'And I respected it because you were lawfully protected,' he told her smoothly. 'But you are all alone, without a proper escort. And unless you've suddenly developed an interest in aliens, it's my duty to bring you home to your parents. And you know what that means.'

Tane advanced on her, and Chi let out a dismayed sound in her throat.

Alien customs or not, instinct and almost nineteen years of Estate living had her moving in an instant.

'You can step off, mate,' she told him pointedly, planting herself in front of Chi. Her accent thickened with her anger. 'She don't wanna go wif you.'

Tane blinked, like a wall had just spoken to him, and his guffawing friends went a little silent at the sudden development. A moment later, he snorted. 'You don't understand our ways, outsider. It would be best for you to leave us.'

'No, best for _you_ to leave _us_ – 'specially if you wanna ever have kids!'

Tane scoffed and made to shove Rose away, but she reacted as any self-respecting girl from the Powell Estate would, jerking her knee up into his crotch area. She hoped these aliens were close enough to human blokes that it actually had an effect.

It did.

Tane dropped like a sack of bricks.

In the split-second where his mates stared in shock, Rose clutched Chi's hand and yanked at her to follow her.

'Run!' she ordered, ignoring the look of astonishment on the other girl's face.

They took off.

'Come on, we can get help from someone in the market!' Rose cried, hauling Chi out of the alcove and back toward the market.

'No, we won't,' Chi protested dolefully. 'I'm without an escort — he's within his rights.'

'_Rights_? Rights to do what?' Rose demanded, eyes darting back toward the group of young men seemed to be trying to decide whether to follow them or help their fallen comrade.

'To take me as his own,' Chi answered, looking miserable at the prospect.

'Well, he'd have to catch you first, yeah?' Rose replied. 'Which we won't let him do — come on!'

The sound of frantic bazaar activity — bargains being struck and wares being loudly advertised — filled the air. Curses and excited shouts followed them.

Rose and Chi ran through the swarms of vendors and children. Hand-in-hand, they narrowly missed upsetting two men carrying a crate of some sort, and they were forced to veer off down a narrow side alley.

She shoved a heavyset alien woman out of her way as she ran, keeping her head down and concentrating on little else but the uneven ground beneath her trainers. There was no immediately clear pathway, no crevice between the closely pressed bodies, and so she was forced to push against them furiously. She dodged feathered hands and sharp talons that shoved back.

Rose listened to exclamations of irritation and even discomfort as she battled her way through with one hand, tightening her grip on Chi's wrist all the while. Faces blurred by them, registering anger and surprise. A sharp-beaked woman scowled as they dodged around her, and the resistant crowd jostled them around, spinning them in the wrong direction.

They weren't even halfway across the market, and the voices of their pursuers were getting louder. Rose could hear the colourful, vulgar threats they were hurling after them much clearer.

'We will not make it!' Chi panted.

Rose's stomach tightened in response. Given some of the more creative threats, she didn't want to imagine whether the Velopssian youths would distinguish between their own kind and an alien once they caught them.

She scanned ahead, looking desperately for something to help — there!

She was just able to make out a bubble of space ahead, a gap between some of the bazaar-goers that was closing quickly.

'Yes, we will!' Rose insisted. 'Come on, shift!'

They pushed urgently toward it, and slipped into it just as the crowd closed behind them, obscuring them from view for a moment. Still, Rose knew it wouldn't be long before the young men following them caught up — not if they were anything like the blokes that hung around the Estate.

'We can't just keep running around the marketplace,' she cried, looking around for somewhere to hide; none of the stalls or tents that were set up looked particularly accommodating, and she didn't remember which direction she had first come from.

Rose was just beginning to regret not having gone back to wait for the Doctor in the first place when Chi tightened her grip where their hands joined. She motioned to the right. 'That way!'

Just beyond a mulling crowd of feathered people, Rose spotted a path leading out of the market and up a tree-lined passage. She did not see where it would lead, but Chi appeared heartened to see it.

'Where's that go?' she asked, even as they hurried toward it.

'Home,' Chi replied. 'Once we get to my home, Tane can't pursue any claim. It's only out here —'

The words ended in a yelp as a feathered hand grabbed between them from behind, and Rose angrily shoved it off. The hand disappeared once more into the crowd behind them, but the fact that they were gaining was not lost on Rose.

'Right! Sounds like as good a plan as any,' she decided, helping to pull the fine-boned girl along with her in the direction she had indicated.

They made it to the edge of the marketplace without further incident, and then it was Chi who led Rose instead.

The noises of the market disappeared behind them the farther they got from the bazaar. Rose was barely conscious of alien flora tickling and whipping at their bodies as they went. In a less frantic time, she might have stopped to appreciate the colourful alien flowers they passed or the growing number of round, nestlike domiciles flying by. As it was, she could still make out the determined shouts of the young men behind her and knew that stopping was not an option.

Rose and Chi didn't even begin to slow when they approached a winding pathway that led to one of the taller locations along the giant tree branch. There was a crowd of avian people gathered in front of this one, and from the wordless exhalation of relief that escaped Chi, Rose guessed who they were.

'Mother! Father!' Chi called out.

'Chi'Ko'ba,' a large, brown-feathered woman clucked in a tone that was both reproachful and grateful. 'Where have you been? Your keeper said you had run off — shame!'

'I shudder to think what may have happened to you unaccompanied,' the alien that Rose took to be Chi's father exclaimed, gazing beyond Rose and Chi. 'Although, judging from what I see, you've experienced it first-hand.' His yellow eyes fell on Rose, who offered a hesitant smile and wave, but was cut off at the expression on his face. Even though he didn't have lips she thought he was frowning at her suspiciously. 'And what creature have you brought with you?'

'Mother, Father,' Chi said, inclining her head submissively. 'This is Rose —' And then, to Rose's confusion, she raised their joined hands and continued in a grudging voice, '— my betrothed.'

Any greeting died on Rose's lips at that.

She turned to face the other girl, eyes wide just as the young men that had been pursuing them hurried up the pathway with them.

'Wait… what?'

· ΔΩ ·


	6. Chapter Six

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

The Doctor didn't pay attention to how long he spent climbing into the towering tree. He did know it was a while before he reached a branch that levelled out. After it, it was another half-kilometre before he saw the nearest settlement. It was a hamlet-sized collection of nest-like domiciles around an open area he determined to be the marketplace.

Based on the architecture and the features of the native people here, he was pretty sure the TARDIS had landed them on Velopssi.

Why she had done so he did not understand. Velopssi was a completely peaceful planet, bordering on dull.

Although…

Judging the time of day from the length of the shadows, the Doctor surmised that the business day had only come to an end. Yet few people were in the market. Those that lingered were not natives but aliens of various other species.

He glanced around at the abandoned stalls distrustfully. Even if the merchants and sellers had left for the day, the square should have been packed with the very social Velopssians. It was entirely too quiet, except –

In the distance he could hear a commotion, and he grinned.

'That's more like it!'

He took off down a shrub-lined pathway leading from the market, towards the sounds of many voices talking together. The commotion grew louder until he entered a cluster of nest-houses where almost a hundred people were gathered, talking and shouting. There was a palpable sense of excitement and scandal in the air. That made all the more sense when he caught a flash of pink and yellow through the throng of feathered bodies.

As he pushed his way through the crowd, he saw that the Velopssians now surrounding her were the most agitated of the bunch. A surly looking young male appeared to be arguing while an older couple shook their heads in dismay at the young female before them. The latter was looking pleadingly at Rose, who appeared completely stunned.

The Doctor's eyes fell on where the Velopssian girl was holding on to Rose's hand, and a niggling suspicion appeared in the Doctor's mind.

'She's an outsider!' the young male cawed in protest.

'And there are provisions for that,' the older male answered, considering the young female sadly. 'Chi'Ko'Ba, you are within your rights of course, but wouldn't it be more prudent to choose one more fitting…?'

'I choose Rose,' the young female insisted. 'She took me by hand –'

'Obviously it didn't know what it was doing!' the young man interrupted.

'– and I won't let anyone say I didn't honour the law!'

'This is unacceptable! Especially to those of us who have followed custom for years in the hopes of –'

'Your undertakings are not what is being discussed, Tane,' the older female, likely Chi'Ko'Ba's mother, spoke up imperiously. 'This is a clan matter, not flock business.'

Tane looked like he wished to argue, but Rose was speaking now, her voice tight with confusion and anxiety. 'Could someone please tell me what the hell's going on?'

'See? It doesn't know what it's done!' Tane cried triumphantly.

With this as his cue, the Doctor finally broke through the last of the crowd. He had to make a concerted effort not to laugh as he pieced together the chain of events from that small smattering of conversation. If there was one thing he had remarked about Rose upon their short acquaintance, it was her tendency to get herself involved in things that weren't her business. It was Cardiff all over again.

Not that he objected to that aspect of her personality at all – in fact, it was one thing he liked most about her. Of course, the last time she had ended up knocked out cold and kidnapped, but it was the intention that counted.

Rose caught sight of him and gasped out a relieved, 'Doctor!'

The cluster of avians turned their attention on him, the males puffing up their neck feathers at the possibility of an impending threat.

'Who are you?' the older female demanded, cold yellow eyes focussing on him.

'I'm the Doctor,' he said with a wiggle of his fingers, 'Hello!'

There was an excited murmur at this latest development, and Tane took several threatening steps forward. 'We have no need for another outsider in this matter.'

'Yeah, well, bad luck, cos I'm her legal guardian,' the Doctor explained. 'Appointed by her family to keep her outta trouble – bit of a handful, this one.' Rose opened her mouth to protest, and he cut her off. 'Now, now, you let me handle this because you've certainly gone and mucked it up. There are proper channels to go through if you wanted to put forward your candidacy.'

He sent Rose a meaningful look that he hoped conveyed a directive to play along. Her cooperating was integral if things were going the way he thought they would go.

By the annoyed yet resigned flicker in her eyes, she had gotten the message because she answered through gritted teeth, 'Fine.'

'Fantastic,' he said. 'And, of course, now I must stay with you all the way through to make sure you don't muck it up even _more_. We wouldn't want to risk offending your intended's gracious parents.' He ducked his head respectfully to the parents first, then the girl and finally the young man who was obviously a spurned suitor. 'Forgive my ward, her species got their start swinging from trees instead of building onto 'em, and sometimes she just doesn't think.'

'A fine choice, obviously,' Tane grumbled.

'Looks like we've got a kind of _cum manu_ engagement custom going on here. I take it Rose took your girl by hand, and she brought them both to your nest like that?'

'That is so,' the Velopssian girl's father intoned, a note of annoyance and wariness in his voice.

Rose's eyes widened in realisation at his words.

'Then it's all real simple. If I'm not wrong, and I rarely am, you've got to approve or disapprove the match. So if you could get on with it, we can be on our way with no one getting dishonoured or thrown off the dodgy side of a tree.'

'An engagement to an outsider is not one that can be rushed,' Chi'Ko'Ba's father replied gravely. 'By law, we have a day to decide.'

'Of course,' the Doctor agreed, undaunted by his first plan having failed. 'Well, while you do that, I'll just take Rose and we'll wait to hear from you in the comfort of our, er, caravan.'

He made a motion for Rose to follow him, but the ranks of the Velopssians closed so that not a gap between them existed, cutting off any attempt at escape.

'Nonsense, Doctor,' the girl's mother said, watching him knowingly. 'Even as sudden as this matter has come upon us, custom must be respected. You and your ward will have lodgings in our nest while my mate and I discuss the matter.'

Rose made a disbelieving sound at the back of her throat.

'Cheers,' the Doctor said, still feigning politeness. 'Lead the way.'

He again motioned for Rose to follow him, this time after the two large Velopssians and not in the direction that would lead them back to the TARDIS. They would probably have to make a run for it when no one was watching. If he judged by the intent looks from all the feathered folk that wouldn't be easy.

As they were led away from the crowd outside and into the large round wooden structure, Rose looked like she had more than a few choice words ready. Both for himself and the Velopssian girl who had sidled away.

Hoping to reign that in, the Doctor was careful to nudge her by the shoulder and not the hand as had become automatic for him. If he was seen to do that, his cover as her guardian would be blown. They might think he was her husband, which could lead to even more unwanted complications than what they were mired in now. Velopssian's weren't a fan of polygamy…

The interior was a cluster of individual rooms organised around a main chamber that boasted a hearth and several low, soft chairs. Upon quick study, the domicile was rustic, filled with handcrafted decorations and wooden furniture. Quilts woven from mosses and long reeds covered the floors. Polished, shining rocks were fitted into the walls in mosaic-like patterns and the curved ceiling, which had an oculus type opening at the top, was decorated with precious jewels.

The Doctor and Rose were led to a room across the hearth chamber, and as they went, curious faces peeked out from behind shoji style sliding doors.

'You may rest here while we deliberate,' Chi'Ko'Ba's father said. 'We hope to see you at the meal this evening.'

He ducked his head, and disappeared, followed closely by Chi'Ko'Ba and her mother.

The door hadn't been drawn closed three seconds before Rose rounded on the Doctor.

· ΘΣ ·

'What the hell are you doing?' Rose demanded, trying to keep her voice low. 'Why didn't you just explain that all this is a big misunderstanding?'

'Cos I don't feel like takin' the scenic route to the bottom of a tree?' the Doctor returned, looking completely unruffled by the turn of events. 'You should be thanking me. Unless you're a fan of bloody holes being pecked through your skin.'

'Oh my God,' Rose choked. 'How are we getting out of here? We _are_ getting out of here, right?'

He hesitated, looking thoughtful. 'Might be a bit tricky. Very traditional species, Velopssians.'

'That what they're called?'

'Yup. Velopssians, or Feathered People, from the planet Velopssi,' he explained cheerfully. 'Friendly to newcomers, as long as you don't try to move in on their territory or try to change the customs.'

'All right…'

'And courtship is one of those customs. Far as I can tell without having someone go over the exact laws with me, you took an unmarried female by the hand which initiated a proposal.'

'What?!'

'The women are generally the ones who choose their mates – that's why all the blokes you see around here are walking around dressed to the nines,' he explained. 'They're trying to attract the attention of the females – try to entice 'em to leave the fold of their friends, as it were. Once a woman moves a certain distance from the others, it's believed that she's given her approval to an offer of marriage. Proximity and touch are chiefly important. By that logic, a lesser known rule is that if a woman is without an escort or group of escorts, then she can be made a bride by capture.'

'So because I tried to help Chi, they think I was trying to, um, capture her to get married?'

'Yep. And her bringing you to her home was pretty much her accepting it,' he paused, before adding. 'Point is, you're engaged. Congratulations!'

'But I can't – that's not – I'm eighteen, and she looks like she's barely out of a training bra – or whatever they wear here,' Rose protested. 'How's that even allowed?'

The Doctor made a face at her. 'Thought you said you were nineteen?'

'I am – well, in a month and a bit.'

'You lied?'

'I didn't lie – I was just worried you'd change your mind about letting me travel with you if you knew I was younger. And I really wanted to come along.'

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her, no doubt thinking on their recent row.

'Anyway, are we really going to talk about that now?' she soldiered on. 'It's not like you've said how old _you_ are.'

'That would be telling,' he answered cheerfully, mood shifting mercurially once more. He looked around the room they were standing in. 'Age of consent varies from place to place. Here it's based on when both parties reach biological maturity, which in this case means you're both legal adults that can make your own decisions.'

Rose's cheeks darkened. 'But I'm not even the same species! I'm not even a bloke – I can't marry her!'

'Given when and where you come from, that's a bit narrow minded.'

'That's not what I –' Rose groaned in frustration. 'I meant, why would they want me to marry her? It's not like we could, um, have kids or anything.'

'Doesn't matter here,' the Doctor shrugged. 'Different customs and all. Adoption's widespread, and children are raised communally. In their view, as long as you've got two hands and a work ethic, they don't care if you're male, female or undisclosed.'

As easily as her cheeks had filled with colour, now they drained just as quickly. 'So you're saying there's no way out of this?'

'I never did,' he protested, sounding offended. 'We've just got to go about it the proper way.'

'Which is?'

'Parental approval is an integral part of a marriage contract around here. They have to decide whether they will accept you into the fold.'

'So they only have to say "no" and we can go?'

'That's an overly simplistic way of looking at it. The thing is if they do disapprove the match they risk dishonour on their daughter and you by suggesting you don't have good judgement. Rather obvious in your case, but it wouldn't reflect well on your lovely bride-to-be.'

'Cor, they've got rules just for having 'em,' Rose groaned. 'It's like being in those dusty countries where none of the women have rights.'

'Not really,' he answered with something like disapproval. 'It's actually quite an egalitarian society. The jobs depend on traditional gender roles, only with utility being the determinant rather than any perceived strength or weakness of the individual. Women build and maintain the household and make sure kids get educated. The men work down in the mountains looking for the precious gems to impress the females. It's a dangerous job, that, considering the possibility of cave-ins.'

Rose shook her head. 'And so how's all this help with getting me out of marrying Chi?'

'It doesn't, I just thought you might like to learn something about people other than your kind.'

'Yeah, but not when I'm about to be forced to get married to one! Isn't there a way out of this?'

'Well, while I said they're not focussed on fertility for a good match, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a factor in things,' he mused. 'Now and again someone'll come 'round that parents don't like. Or someone'll make an engagement they decide they want to break and need some kind of loophole to get out of it. If we get a chance, I'll ask.'

'Oh, and they'll just tell you?'

'If it were a profitable match, they wouldn't. I doubt they're any more chuffed at the idea of you as their in-law, than you are with sitting down to Christmas dinner with a bunch of birds.'

Rose shook her head at him, a smile threatening to emerge despite herself. 'So you happen to be an expert in Velopssian marriage customs, then?'

'Read about it once,' he shrugged, and tapped his head. 'Lot of knowledge up here. And I've got a good memory, me.'

'I'm getting that,' she answered, and for a moment they were grinning at each other.

And then her own memory kicked in and she recalled the sudden argument they had had which had led her to getting into this situation to begin with; one moment he had been joking and the next he had been snarling the unkindest things to her, his eyes wild and guarded.

What the Doctor had said about memories and everything he had told her about what he'd been through finally clicked together, and something occurred to her.

'A good memory,' she repeated delicately, 'but not every memory's a good one, is it?'

As she had expected, his eyes abruptly turned cold, and it was like he had locked up all the emotion there.

'S'usually how it works,' he said, tone noncommittal.

His jaw clenched, and she could see that her words had somehow found their way beyond the emotional armour he always seemed to wear. This time, though, she wasn't preoccupied with the overwhelming nature of the TARDIS and her rash decision to travel with him. She noticed when his entire demeanour shifted to the defensive.

Before another row could start, she changed the subject. 'So, what happens if Chi's parents decide to go through with it?'

There was only a split second where he looked like he clearly hadn't expected that, but then he was back to being impressive and smart. 'Then the ball's in our court. The suitor's family – in this case, me as your guardian – has time to disapprove of the match too. Like I said, very egalitarian.'

'Yeah,' Rose said, slowly, 'but doesn't that have the same problem as Chi's parents disapproving? She gets dishonoured and stuff?'

'Maybe a bit, but it wouldn't be as bad for her, cos her family'd have already done everything right,' the Doctor said. 'Sort of like hot potato – last one holding it is the one that's in trouble. In this case, us – but we're leaving, so we don't care.'

'Are you sure?'

'Nope,' he answered. 'But it's the best I can do while we're in here. Dunno if you noticed, but you made a right spectacle of yourself. Everyone'll recognise you now, and I'd rather you not be pecked to death for trying to upset local tradition by running out on your bride.'

'So we're just… stuck here. Until tomorrow.'

'Looks like.'

'Great.'

There was a beat of silence, the reality of everything settling between them.

After a moment, Rose spoke up. 'I'll tell you what, though.'

'What?'

'Alien planet,' she couldn't help but grin.

He beamed back. 'I know.'

'A bit sorry I didn't do the whole Neil Armstrong bit,' she sighed.

· ΔΩ ·


	7. Chapter Seven

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

An hour or so passed, time during which Rose relayed the story of what had happened once she stepped out of the TARDIS. The Doctor experienced a moment's panic when she told him about almost being killed by an Okpulonashoba and the ensuing rescue by Chi, but didn't show it.

'Guess that bronze in gymnastics came in handy again?' he quipped with forced levity. She grinned, going on with her tale, but he barely listened.

His thoughts were too convoluted, and as usual lately, utterly suffused with guilt.

He was always getting people killed – hadn't that been made clear with Jabe? The clever, sympathetic tree would have made a good companion if she lived – if she stayed far away from him.

Death inarguably followed wherever he went, and he had already doomed so many friends and family to Her clutches in the past. Rose had already almost died several times just for her connection to him. She had gotten her first glimpse of what death looked like up close. Real death, not the kind where you find out an hour later there was just some misunderstanding and your idiot boyfriend's been alive the whole time. She had seen the charred ruins of the observation deck and smelled the burning flesh of the victims.

Amazingly, she hadn't looked away then, and even now she determinedly faced it head-on.

As she chatted, her words rang with a bravado he couldn't quite decipher as being real or fake.

Oh, he knew Rose Tyler was brave. No question.

She was taking everything happening in stride, it seemed. Although she did finally seem to trip up a little when she noticed the single sleeping pallet in their quarters.

'Yeah, that's to be expected,' he explained dismissively. 'Velopssians sleep huddled together for warmth. It gets cold up here at night and they don't have the same ability to regulate their temperature as humans.'

Rose's cheeks turned slightly pink. 'But neither of us is Velopssian.'

'Brilliant observation,' he answered dryly. Honestly, humans and their preoccupations about bed sharing. 'Seeing as how there's only one of us gonna be sleeping, that's not a problem either.'

Rose blinked. 'But you've been awake as long as I have – probably longer. You need to rest too.'

'Different physiology, remember? Don't need much sleep.'

She looked like she wanted to once more broach whatever difficult topic had been eating away at her since they entered this room. Thankfully she was interrupted by a light tap on the paper door. The Doctor jumped up to open the door and found himself face to face with one of their Velopssian hosts.

'The evening meal is to be served. My honoured sister and her husband would extend an invitation to you and your ward,' the skinny avian man said formally and not a little stiffly.

'Fantastic – I'm overdue for a good nosh,' the Doctor enthused as Rose came over to stand beside him.

'What're the odds of these people eating chips?' Rose asked quietly as they followed him to the main dining area.

'Not good,' the Doctor answered, amused. 'Though, from what I've read, really no worse than you'd eat in France or America.'

Which was true, mostly; most avian species lived off of dried fruits and vegetables, seeds, smaller reptiles and insects. There were worse things in the universe to survive off of.

They sat at one end of a large oval table, wedged between the rest of the clan and (to the Doctor's disappointment) far from Rose's prospective in-laws. That was to be expected, though, considering many species practised engagement traditions that forbid contact between potential partners until the day of the ceremony.

Chi'Ko'ba and her family sat at the other end. Given the rather rigid posture of all of them and the mutinous look on the young female's face, their deliberations weren't going smoothly.

Good to know that sort of thing might work out in his and Rose's favour then.

Velopssians traditionally ate in total silence, and so the Doctor didn't have time to ask anyone about loopholes to get out of a marriage contract. As it turned out, he spent most of the night observing the interesting faces Rose made as she tried the local fare. He made sure to covertly steer her clear of anything that would be indigestible to a human stomach.

Despite Rose's unease with the situation and the wide-eyed looks she cast around – like she couldn't believe where she was – she didn't seem particularly uncomfortable. She blended in as easily at a table full of feathered aliens as she did clad in that fine gown in Cardiff. She had caught him off-guard when she first strode into the control room in it.

Granted, he had been the one to tell her to change, but he hadn't expected her to pull off the look quite so well. More than that, he hadn't expected to notice.

Of course he knew (in an abstract way) since they first met that she wasn't an unfortunate looking humanoid. And he didn't just think so because her species resembled his, either.

She possessed all the requisite facial quirks that humans found attractive, despite the caked on makeup and bangles of jewellery – full lips, almond shaped eyes and a well-formed nose. Her body type suggested she was athletic or had been once, and her complexion was that of someone born and raised in a maritime climate.

Still, seeing her in period garb caused him to blurt out his thoughts before his reason caught up with him.

If he wasn't positive that his eighth incarnation was buried deep beneath layers of guilt and trauma, he might suspect him to be the culprit that called her beautiful. He'd covered it up with a qualifier, but that didn't cancel out the fact that he had noticed. Or that he was noticing anyone – least of all a twenty-first century human – in any other way than with distant and intellectual curiosity.

It would have been outrageous before, but now it was just unfathomable.

And really, that was enough of that – even the long, boring Velopssian dinner was a more comfortable thing to think about than that. Not for the first time, he was glad his companion wasn't a telepath.

'It wasn't completely horrible,' Rose was saying as he came back to himself. They were being returned to their room. 'I've eaten leftovers that tasted worse than that.'

'I believe you,' he answered, thinking of the girl's mother. Even with only one meeting, he couldn't picture a woman that wore that much velour as being able to cook anything decent.

Rose shot him an unimpressed look, as if she somehow sensed his thoughts, but said nothing. Instead she flopped down on the thick feather pallet on the ground and stretched.

'I could sleep for a week,' she declared with a yawn.

'Best not, or you'll miss your wedding.'

'Ha, ha,' she deadpanned, then turned over on her side to consider him. 'You sure you don't want to have a lie-down? Cos I can wait until you've gotten your… what, four hours?'

'Generally only need one,' he answered, trying not to reflect on the fact that it was going on three days since the last time he closed his eyes.

'All right. Tell you what, though – when we get back to the TARDIS, no more long days,' Rose said decisively, turning away from him to get comfortable. She missed the way his eyebrows lifted at the implication that she would still be on the TARDIS after they got out of this mess. 'I don't know what you lot do, but I'm human and I need to sleep occasionally unless you want me passing out while we run for our lives. Now and then, I'm gonna need to kip for a few hours.'

'Biological design flaw, if you ask me,' he snorted, if only to cover up his surprise. After everything, she _still _wanted to travel with him?

'Biological design flaw, dimensionally transcen-whatsit time ship,' she dismissed sleepily. 'Still having a bed when we get back.' She yawned again and finally settled. 'Night, Doctor.'

Other companions sometimes made a fuss at the prospect of sleeping while he lingered nearby – humans didn't like others seeing them while they were vulnerable. But Rose didn't even comment on it. Either she was too tired to care, or it really didn't bother her. Judging from how she made known when she didn't like something, tired or not, he found himself leaning toward the latter reason.

That she felt that level of comfort with him – despite the general prickliness of their interactions today – was both heartening and confusing.

And, if he was honest, a bit frightening.

The Doctor considered his companion's sleeping form, trying to understand that inexplicable trust. After everything, she still wanted to travel with him, even though he had almost gotten her killed at least five times.

Six, if you counted landing on the wrong planet and her falling off a tree.

He'd taken her to witness her world explode. Even after all of that – she'd been shell-shocked and wrong-footed and an absolute emotional mess – she had still taken his hand.

She had let him lead her away. Back to the TARDIS and back to her time where she hadn't asked him to take her but where he had thought she would want to be. He'd been fully prepared to bring her home – to drop her off and let her stay in a safe spot while he moved on.

But then she had looked around the crowds of people, and he practically saw her sizing the world up with new eyes.

And he had understood, suddenly, that she was one of the ones who would never go back.

It was a heartening and heart-breaking awareness all at once, and he couldn't help the niggling suspicion that he had ruined her.

So he had told her.

Told her what he had told no one else, told her about his planet and people being gone. Not everything, but enough that she understood that he was utterly alone.

Instead of mumbling 'sorry' like anyone else might, or avoiding his gaze when she realised she had stumbled on to a delicate subject. she had said, 'There's me.'

Which was nonsense and insignificant and presumptuous and how dare a pithy little ape think that would make up for everything he had lost?

Except… in a way, somehow it felt like it did.

It felt like more than an arbitrary offer of a shoulder to lean on. Like she acknowledged what his past meant, without truly understanding it. Like she understood that he was lonely and weak and doomed to never again have anyone who would understand. Yet she still offered to be that someone or at least try to be that someone. All without him having divulged more than a glancing hint of his deeds.

The enormity of her proposal, and whether she knew what she was offering or not, preoccupied him. Even finding out how dangerous his life was, she had brushed it off with a nervous joke.

For the life of him he didn't know whether that made her stupid or enlightened.

He considered her again, noting how she shivered in her sleep. Velopssian beds didn't come with blankets, and however much better human bodies were at regulating their temperatures, at this altitude that wouldn't be much different.

He shrugged out of his coat and carefully draped it across the girl's sleeping form so as not to wake her.

'Good night, Rose.'

· ΘΣ ·

Rose tried not to fidget as the solemn procession of feathered people filled the front yard outside the Chi's family's nest. Behind her and the Doctor was the edge of the massive branch and the long drop to the forest floor.

They were once again completely hemmed in by Velopssians, with no way of making a run for it.

Chi and her parents lingered at the front of the crowd, their expressions inscrutable. Other members of the flock gathered to watch as well.

As she hovered in the background, Rose could make out Tane, who glowered at her with an expression that promised violence. The Doctor must have remarked on it as well, because he whispered, 'Guess you don't make friends _everywhere_ you go.'

She tried to elbow him as unobtrusively as possible.

His surprised grunt cut off as Chi's mother stepping forward, chest puffed up as she pronounced, 'We have decided that the marriage is acceptable.' Rose's stomach clenched in dismay. 'Should you agree, we will conclude the process as soon as possible.'

Obviously they wanted to get this matter over and done with.

The Doctor took a half-step forward, hand on Rose's shoulder. It was a protective gesture, in the same way that waking up beneath his coat that morning had been, and she appreciated it greatly.

'Before we decide, maybe you could clear up some details – seeing as how we're not from this planet and all,' he explained. 'If I decided the match wasn't in my charge's best interest…?'

'Dishonour would be cast upon both our daughter and your ward,' Chi'Ko'ba mother bit out coldly.

'Right, right… and to do that, Rose'd have to what? Pass Chi'Ko'ba back to you by hand?' the Doctor promoted. 'It's how most engagement agreements of this type are broken…'

'If she relinquishes the right to marry now that permission has been granted, Chi'Ko'ba will be dishonoured and unclaimed,' Chi's father croaked, his feathers bristling with rage. 'She will no longer be protected by family law and will be free to be claimed by whichever flock member speaks first!'

'Ah. Supposed as much.'

Rose glanced across the room to where Tane stood. Although the Velopssian species didn't have noticeable ears, it seemed his perked up at this ruling; his eyes flew to Chi and a covetous grin overtook his features.

Chi paled beneath her feathers, but said nothing.

'Um… say we went through with it,' Rose began hesitantly, looking back to Chi's parents. 'Exactly… what would I have to do?'

The Doctor made a surprised sound in his throat.

'We will conduct the wedding ceremony by evening, as is custom, and you are expected to provide a sign of your wealth to Chi'Ko'ba at that point. Upon her acceptance, the marriage will be complete.'

'Oh… so jewellery or money?'

Chi'Ko'Ba's mother opened her mouth to speak, but the girl in question interrupted shrilly, 'Usually, yeah, but anything meaningful would work.'

From the sound of her voice and the pleading in her eyes, it was obvious she was pinning her hopes on them.

Rose offered the Doctor a sideways version of the same glance. He looked impatient and not well pleased, but from the put-upon sigh he let out, she figured he would go along with it.

'All right, in the interests of everyone involved, I approve the match.'

There was excited murmuring among the flock, and Rose saw Tane's mouth – beak? – move in disbelief and anger.

'Excellent,' Chi's mother said, only sounding half-genuine. 'Then preparations will begin at once.'

'Oh, yeah, happy news, that,' the Doctor replied, falsely cheerful. 'Give us a moment alone, would you? Need to give my charge a bit of last minute advice.'

And he hauled Rose back into their hosts' nest before anyone said another word.

· ΔΩ ·


	8. Chapter Eight

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

'D'you mind telling me what's in your head?' the Doctor demanded. 'You said you wanted out of here!'

'I do!' Rose insisted. 'It's just… I can't leave Chi here to deal with that Tane bloke or anyone else who tries to have a go at her!'

'And what d'you intend to do with the girl after the wedding? Is she supposed to come with us? Cos I don't do spouses or girlfriends or whatever you expect her to be. You want her, you stay here with her – and don't think I'm going back and explaining to your useless lump of a boyfriend what happened!'

'What do you know about divorce on this planet?' she countered, ignoring the dig at Mickey.

'I don't think it exists.'

'Well… well, if you can come up with something else to do, go ahead!' Rose shot back. 'I don't want to be married, but I also don't want Chi to get left to that other tosser. Especially when it's my fault in the first place.'

'Well, if you hadn't stalked off in a high dudgeon –'

'You were being an arse!'

'And you were being closed-minded! Accusing me of – of –' He foundered for a moment, before continuing, 'Telepathy isn't mind control, whatever they say in the films!'

'How would I know that? It's not like getting a straight answer out of you is a picnic! You should've told me from the beginning.'

He opened his mouth, possibly to retort angrily, but something stopped him. He appeared to be struggling with himself for a moment before he finally spoke again.

'Perhaps,' he granted her. 'If it'd occurred to me, I would've. But what you need to understand is that I'm… my people are – were…' He trailed off, catching and holding her gaze. 'I will never spy on your thoughts, Rose Tyler. Not unless you gave me permission to. Even then, that sort of thing is too…'

For a flickering instant his eyes went completely unguarded. In that rare instant of openness, she saw total honesty, mixed in with all the grief and anger and pain he'd been holding in.

And then it was gone again.

'Okay,' she said, a little more gently this time. 'Okay, glad we've got that sorted.' Rose took a breath and went on. 'And on the topic of things you shouldn't do, how about not treating me like I've got no idea what I'm talking about cos I'm human?'

'Well, you _don't_ know what you're talking about,' he answered, but seeing her expression added, 'Compared to me.'

'Gelth?' she reminded him pointedly.

'That was…' he winced and shook his head. 'That shouldn't have happened. And it won't happen again. I got caught off-guard.'

'Because of the Time War.'

'… Yeah.'

'You've never really explained –'

'And I won't. All you need to know is it wasn't me who started it, but for all the good it did, I ended it. And countless species, like the Gelth, were caught in the crossfire.'

'If there were other aliens like the Gelth who snuffed it, I'd say you saved more people than you hurt.'

'Rose –'

'No, Doctor, they were bad news. Maybe once upon a time they was good, but not when we met them.'

'The Gelth were the victims of –'

'They were going to kill us and take over our bodies! And they were going to kill an entire planet of innocent people that hadn't done nothing to them, for no other reason than to use them!' Rose shot back. 'That's not victims, Doctor.'

He looked like he wanted to argue with her, like he was desperate to make her understand something, but instead he changed tracks. Obviously she had gotten enough emotion out of him for one day because now he leaned back with his arms crossed and smirked at her.

'You're awfully clearheaded for someone about to get married.'

She blinked.

So that was how it was going to be? Subject changes whenever he decided they'd talked enough about something?

_Fine, Doctor, go ahead and do that. It's not the last we're talking about it, whatever you might think_, she decided defiantly. She wasn't Jackie Tyler's daughter for nothing.

Out loud, she answered, 'Well, it's not a real wedding, is it? I always figured it only counts if you both mean it, and I'm just doing it so we can get out of here,' She made a face. 'How are we gonna do that, anyway?'

'With a little help,' he answered, manic grin making a quick return. 'Isn't that right?'

There was a small gasp, and then the thin sliding door opened to reveal a quivering Chi.

'I-I wasn't listening in!' she squawked hurriedly. 'I only just got here. I'm not supposed to be talking to either of you right now. But I told everyone I was feeling overwhelmed, so…' she trailed off, shook her feathers and turned an imploring gaze upon Rose. 'I'm so sorry, Rose, I didn't mean for all this to happen! Thank you so much for what you said you'd do, but… but I don't want to trap you in this. If you want, I can make a distraction and help you both get away –'

The Doctor held up a hand, looking a bit amused. 'And here I thought you were a quiet one…'

'Chi, I don't want to leave you in trouble here. It was my fault for taking your hand. Probably for Tane even noticing where you were, come to think of it.'

The Velopssian's odd eyes didn't exactly water, but they did fill with emotion. Rose now knew she was doing the right thing, and even the Doctor appeared to thaw a bit.

'I can think of a few places that might suit you better than here,' he told her. 'Different planet, of course, but open-minded enough that you would do well.'

Rose took up where he left off. 'If you have somewhere in mind, we could take you there after the ceremony and get you settled, and you could say we, er, fell of a branch or something.'

'Thank you, but no,' Chi shook her head. 'I may not like some of the customs here… but this is my home, and I can't picture myself anywhere else. Even if you leave, as long as I remain here, people will have witnessed my marriage. I will be considered a widow without you, but it will give me more freedom than I had before.'

'Then it's settled,' the Doctor declared. 'We'll have a few quick 'I Do's, a round of banana daiquiris, and we all go home. No harm, no fuss.'

'I must return before they notice I'm here,' Chi said, looking around furtively. She shot them one more grateful look. 'Thank you so much for this!'

And then she was gone.

'If they don't have chips, I doubt they'll have banana daiquiris,' Rose pointed out.

'A man can hope,' he answered blithely. 'Though they do have _yiwan_. Strong stuff, that, even for my physiology. Drink too much of it and you'll forget more than the night before the morning after. They use that sometimes in ceremonies. If they do in yours, don't even wet your lips on it unless you want to get poisoned – or at the very least forget your own name.'

'Right,' Rose answered. 'So what are we going to do about that gift I'm supposed to be giving Chi?'

'I can find something in the TARDIS,' the Doctor shrugged. 'They'll likely let me come and go as I please now that things are more or less settled.'

For a moment she was struck with the irrational fear that he might decide she was too much of a bother after getting into this whole mess with Chi. That he might decide to leave.

Something must have showed on her face because he offered her a comforting look. 'I'm not going anywhere without you. Now buck up and get ready for your big day.'

Momentary insecurity eradicated by his promise, she pointed a finger at him. 'No one ever hears about this, yeah?'

'I'll take it with me to the grave,' he promised.

· ΘΣ ·

As he'd expected, the Doctor was permitted to move to and fro before the ceremony. He left Rose for a little while to fetch the TARDIS, intending to park it within running distance. If their little charade failed, he had a feeling they would be needing it.

He had been hesitant to try to move her at first. The navigational systems and the time differential were still acting up, and he didn't like the idea of accidentally leaving Rose behind.

Especially not since he'd almost done just that the day before.

Luckily the TARDIS seemed to be in a better mood this time. She set them down close enough to the little village to be accessible, but far enough to not be noticed by anyone too curious.

After that, it was just a matter of digging up something for Rose to give her bride-to-be. He eventually found a golden and bejewelled monstrosity that Montezuma had given him several incarnations before. It had been collecting dust in a broom cupboard since then, but would appeal to the visual nature of the Velopssians.

'Looks like some of the costume stuff my mum wears to parties,' Rose said when she saw it, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

'But it's genuine, which is what's important to this lot,' the Doctor had replied, handing it over to her. 'I bet what they give you will be even more flashy.'

He was proved right about that at the ceremony later when Chi'Ko'Ba handed over a clunky beaded clunky necklace of woven ropes around uncut gems.

'I accept the offering of my intended,' Rose intoned, repeating the same words the Velopssian girl had said when she took Rose's gift. The gaudy necklace now rested atop her throat plumage. As Rose allowed Chi'Ko'Ba to set the chain over her head, the Doctor could tell she was fighting back giggles.

The Doctor shot her a warning look, but couldn't help being struck by how well she was taking the sudden, unwanted nuptials. He'd had other companions that wouldn't have been so keen on undergoing such a ceremony, even if it might save someone in need.

The officiant, an old, grey-feathered avian with the watery blue eyes of a blind man, held out a cup to both Rose and Chi'Ko'Ba; standing beside Rose as he had been all the ceremony, the Doctor could easily smell the ethanol and honey scent of the _yiwan_ nectar.

As she reached out to take it, the Doctor caught Rose's eye again, offering her another silent warning. She winked at him, like she understood, and raised to cup to her face, and took an exaggerated gulp that he assumed to be false. As she passed it to Chi'Ko'Ba, he saw that her lips remained dry.

He nodded approvingly.

'By the power accorded unto me by the spirits of this forest, I declare the ceremony ended and these two female nest mates,' the reedy voice of the officiate declared. The surrounding Velopssians let out a cawing, crowing din that almost shook the branch they were all standing on.

'So's that it?' Rose questioned, her voice quiet enough that only the Doctor and Chi'Ko'Ba would hear. 'Can we get going now?'

'We must stay for the feast,' Chi'Ko'Ba answered quietly. 'But afterwards, yes.'

Now that the wedding was over, Rose could sit with Chi at the high table, and as the Doctor was her former guardian he was seated beside her. It gave him a good vantage point for figuring out what would be the best way to sneak away from the celebration. However, it also ensured that he and Rose were under the beady eyes of Chi's parents.

_Not optimal,_ he thought as the wedding guests took their seats along the provided tables for the feast. There was still an air of excitement in the air which would only calm when the silent meal began.

As they waited, Rose nudged his shoulder.

'So I've been meaning to ask…' she mumbled, her eyes on the events like she too was looking for the best opportunity to make a run for it. 'This happen a lot?'

'Hm?'

'Go visit a pretty planet, end up engaged?' Rose clarified.

'It happens.'

'Have you ever been married, then?'

The Doctor had, in fact – too many times to count. None of the so-called weddings had meant much to him beyond trying to escape a sticky situation. Well, except…

But he didn't have the strength to remember without feeling a rising pain in his chest. Instead, he pasted a grin on his face and answered, 'Oh, yeah, loads of times. Sort of an occupational hazard.'

'Good to know,' Rose snorted, reaching for the goblet of fruit juice beside her. 'I'll add it to my list of things to watch out for – living plastic, psycho flaps of skin, gas zombies and shotgun weddings. Anything else?'

'Carnivorous trousers,' the Doctor told her seriously.

Rose paused, drink inches from her lips and stared. 'Really?'

'No idea. But it's something we should investigate, don't you think?'

'Definitely!' She beamed at him, and he suspected if they hadn't been surrounded by dozens of tradition-driven avians, she'd probably have reached out and squeezed his hand. 'I'll drink to that!'

'Actually, you're supposed to wait until everyone's seated to –'

The words died in his throat as she swallowed, and he realised a split-second too late that something terrible was about to happen.

'Rose!'

She choked suddenly, the goblet falling from her fingers as she clutched for her throat. The Doctor was already moving toward her as she dropped to her knees, her cheeks draining rapidly of colour and her fear-filled eyes trained on him.

· ΔΩ ·


	9. Chapter Nine

**AN: Heartfelt thanks to everyone who took the time to read my story. Special thanks to narnian23, Son of Whitebeard and TiaKisu for going the extra step and reviewing. You guys rock!**

* * *

"_If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"_

* * *

For the longest second of his life, the Doctor found himself frozen, only coming back to himself when Chi'Ko'Ba let out a devastated cry. 'Rose!'

The avian girl was on her knees trying to help her, and the sounds of waning celebration around them abruptly shifted into one of panic and upset.

'Turn her on her side – and get the damned table out of the way!' the Doctor barked as he finally moved. With one hand he checked Rose's pulse while the other reached for the goblet.

He took a whiff and scowled.

There was no scent that a human would have been able to pick up, but with his senses he faintly identified the ethanol odour. Someone had laced her drink with undistilled _yiwan_, a compound which was about a hundred times more harmful to the human nervous system than its refined cousin.

'It's _yiwan_,' he told Chi'Ko'ba, who gasped in horror. The Doctor looked around, searching desperately for any nearby herbs or roots that might act as an antidote. As he did so, he perceived Tane off to one side, watching the events with something like triumph in his eyes.

When he noticed the Doctor's scrutiny, however, he arranged his face into an expression of innocence shock that didn't fit his persona.

'You!' he snapped. 'What've you done?!'

Tane raised his hands defensively. 'What are you talking about? I did nothing to the outsider.'

'Rose is human,' the Doctor growled. 'Certain substances on this planet can hurt her – in unrefined doses, perhaps even kill her! Now how much did you give her?'

The exact amount would decide the proper course of treatment, and whether he could manage it here or if he had to return to the TARDIS.

'You can't prove I did anything, outsider,' Tane sneered.

'If something happens to this girl, I won't rest until whoever's responsible is dealt with,' the Doctor told the avian man coldly. 'And I don't care who I go through to do that.'

They were words that many a desperate man had said before, but never with such unwavering conviction and the perceptible threat that the Doctor could manage. For a moment he felt like his seventh incarnation was taking hold, and the nameless one who had fought in the War. They were dangerous men, men who did not flinch at Machiavellian tactics no matter how base.

From the way Tane paled, he obviously saw that promise in the Doctor's eyes.

'How much did you give her?' he asked once more.

Tane swallowed, unable to turn away, and murmured, 'Three roots.'

A cacophony of disgusted and dismayed cries arose, but the Doctor barely perceived them. That amount of _yiwan_ could act as quickly as rat poison in the human body, and that wasn't even touching on the neurological effects.

'I can't treat her here,' he told Chi'Ko'ba, shoving her away and picking up Rose's unconscious, barely breathing form. 'I can flush her system back on the TARDIS – we have to go –!'

'Out of the question!' Chi's mother insisted, appearing as if out of nowhere. 'She is our family now, we will care for her in our nest, as is custom in times of sickness.'

'You don't have the proper treatments here!' the Doctor snapped. 'Nothing that you could safely use on a human.'

'The gods will provide,' Chi's father insisted. 'She is no longer your concern, Doctor. Your guardianship has passed. Let us care for her properly.'

'Now you listen –!' the Doctor all-but snarled, not caring a whit for local traditions. The longer Rose was unconscious, the more debilitating the effect of the root.

'You will not interfere, Doctor – this is our custom,' the bride's mother insisted, and he sensed people surrounding him. 'If you flout our ways, you will be treated as hostile.'

Which would mean a trip down the tree in the quickest way. He needed to get Rose out of here. His eyes lingered on the sharpened cutlery that had been left on the table. It wasn't his preferred method of convincing people, but Rose was in trouble, and –

A loud, keening screech broke up the imminent tensions, and everyone stared around to see Chi'Ko'Ba standing in the middle of the crowd, grabbing on to Tane. For someone who had been so pursuant of her before, he was making a concerted effort to break away now.

'The poisoner is trying to escape! Stop him!' she insisted. 'I demand justice for my nest mate, as per the traditions!'

It was as if a bomb had exploded. The Velopssians exploded into sound and movement, excited and impassioned by the poisoning of Rose and Chi's declaration. No one seemed to know what to do at first – attend to the poisoned human, or go after her poisoner.

The tide changed as Tane freed himself, bolting away.

Velopssian dedication to justice ensured that the rest of the flock go after him. If the Doctor was lucky enough, he might just be able to…

In the midst of the turmoil, the Doctor saw Chi nod to him, and he realised she would make sure the distraction continued.

He beamed at her, knowing it would have to suffice as a thank you, and hauled Rose over his shoulder, legging it back to the TARDIS.

'Ta for a lovely day and congratulations on your nuptials! We'll send postcards!' he called to her as he ran. He knew it was only a matter of time before Rose's new in-laws and the rest of the flock came after him.

He didn't look back, too intent on getting to where the TARDIS was parked.

As he dodged through the uneven terrain of the branch, he forced himself to stay detached from the still seizing body of the girl in his arms. If he let himself get upset, it might slow him down and then he would lose her.

Still, as he periodically glanced down to check that she was still breathing, the grey colour of her skin and the slackness in her face made his stomach churn.

His memory flashed back to the look on her face at her first sight of the aliens on Platform One. He'd practically been able to hear her thoughts churning as her world view changed. It had been a breath-taking thing to behold.

He always loved that first taste of wonder that emanated from a new companion as they stepped into a whole new world. But Rose's made his hearts speed up and the smile on his face more genuine for the first time in ages.

Because of this, it had hit him all the more keenly when that sense of wonder and enjoyment in her had altered, and had been replaced by overwhelming uncertainty.

He should have expected it really, the surprise and slight xenophobia, but she had so far been taking everything so bloody well that he had been caught up short.

But she'd obviously gotten over that, in such a short time and then ended up in this mess –

His brow furrowed in resolve.

He would not let her go that easy. In four days, she had made his life worth living again. He'd be damned if he let her die before the universe got to see how brilliant Rose Tyler was.

· ΘΣ ·

Rose came to herself in a sterile white room, the clicks and beeps of machinery providing a counterpoint to her own heartbeat. A second later the Doctor's concerned face swam into view.

'All right, Rose?'

'… Doctor?'

There was a whirring and then an electric blue shine in her eyes.

'Pupil dilation's normal, heartbeat's good… what's the last thing you remember?'

That brought her up short.

'Um… gas zombies,' she murmured. It was harder than it should be to dredge up the memories. 'Charles Dickens?'

The Doctor's expression morphed into something resembling dismay. 'Ah.'

'"Ah"?' she repeated flatly. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Strong drink, that,' he remarked, looking sheepish.

'Drink? What are you talking about?' Rose wanted to know, pushing herself up on her elbows. The Doctor's lack of forthrightness was upsetting her. 'What happened?' She looked around the white room, noticing the machines and computers that wouldn't have been out of place in a medical drama. 'Why am I in the hospital?'

'You're not – you're in the TARDIS sickbay.'

'How big is this place exactly that you can fit a sickbay, and a three-storey wardrobe and…' she trailed off, something occurring to her. She glanced down at her jeans and hoodie. 'Hold on, where's my dress? Did you change me?'

'Don't be stupid, you changed yourself before our last stop,' the Doctor retorted, his ears tinged slightly pink.

'Our last stop?'

'Only, we've just been on a bit of an adventure,' he said dismissively. 'Stopped in to a wedding and you had one too many – don't worry, you didn't miss anything completely important.'

'What are you talking about? Of course I did!' Rose cried, furious with herself. In her short time with him, she had come to the immutable conclusion that anything that happened while travelling with the Doctor was important.

'If it makes you feel better, it sometimes happens,' the Doctor told her comfortingly. 'I don't know how many times I've gotten amnesia.'

'Oh, that's comforting!'

He snorted in amusement, and then to her surprise he looked away. From the general shiftiness of his body language, she got the sense that there was something he didn't want to say to her.

'Doctor? What's going on?'

'Nothing,' he told her quickly, and then followed that up with a hasty, 'Well, something –' He saw her expression, '– not having to do with travelling in the direct sense.'

'Meaning?'

'There was… we had a bit of a…'

The Doctor, who knew everything about everything, sounded like he didn't know how to get the words out.

'I'm still getting used to being around people again,' he finally said, uncomfortably, changing tactics. 'It's possible I was a bit… short with you about… events. The Gelth, specifically.' Rose raised her eyebrows, the memories of their most recent adventure – or so she'd thought – filtering back to her through a haze. 'You called me on it, and I…'

He trailed off with a shrug and crossed his arms defensively.

Confusion aside, she acknowledged that as the closest thing to an explanation or an apology that she was bound to get. Despite her dislike of being kept in the dark and her curiosity over whatever had happened before she woke up, she recognised that the Doctor was struggling with something.

Instinct told her not to make a big deal about it, and so she decided to let the matter lie.

This time.

Instead, she offered him a wry look. 'Well… I said we should make sure we suited before exploring the universe together.'

He raised an eyebrow at her, expression defensive. 'Does that mean you want me to take you home?'

'Nah, 'course not. Well, not permanently – I do want to grab some things from the flat, though.'

'Right, well, let's get it over with if we have to head back.'

She blinked. That had been almost too easy. 'What?'

He glanced over his shoulder at her with an expression like she had dribbled on her shirt. 'Weren't you listening? Back to your time.'

'You mean it?'

'Why wouldn't I? Come on, I can bring you back to the very next morning. Sunday, sixth of March, 2005, we'll get your things, then be off again, quick as you like.'

'Sounds good to me!' Rose laughed, and the frowned. 'Wait a minute… when I talked to Mum, she said it was Wednesday.'

'Did she?' the Doctor frowned. 'Hm – must be a glitch in the phone. I meant to sync it to your relative time.' He shrugged. 'Well, go grab it and I'll take a peek. Likely it reached out to a week in either direction.'

'So I might have called her before I even left?'

'Yup.'

'That's weird.'

'That's time travel.' They beamed at each other for a minute, and then the Doctor clapped his hands together. 'Well then, if you're back to the land of the living, let's get going. Planets to see, people to marry…'

Rose smiled as he bounded from the room, shaking her head at his manic energy.

Something about his words triggered something, and she frowned.

'Wait… who's getting married?'

But he had already dashed off.

By the time she wound her way out of the med bay and back to the control room, he was glaring at the console.

'Not the Powell Estate,' he confided with forced neutrality. 'Right planet this time, but a few years off.'

'_Years_?'

'Well… and a century,' he admitted, still studying the screen. Suddenly his expression cleared. 'Oh, but you won't want to miss this! C'mon!'

And before she could ask him any more questions, he had seized her hand and was dragging her from the TARDIS.

Hurrying to catch up with him as they burst through the doorway, she couldn't help but be sure she had made the right choice travelling with the Doctor.

Unbidden, the memory of that poor drunk at New Years' came to her mind, and she decided that he might have been on to something.

_Maybe this will be a really good year after all._

* * *

To Be Continued in _Kindred Spirits_

* * *

**Reviews, constructive criticism, fan art or offers to recommend my work are always welcome! For news, fic updates and other minutae, follow me on Twitter erthechilde.**


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